The Tale of the Geeky Agent and the Nerdy Coroner
by AlbusSeverusPotter7
Summary: "You're a strange man, Dr. Reid" Zara stated, looking at the flustered agent sitting next to her. "How so?" he asked. "I spend the day examining dead bodies, and enjoy the presence of the living. You spend the day with the living, but are more comfortable with the dead." Spencer Reid meets the FBI's strange ME Zara Singh, and begins to feel things he didn't think he'd feel again.
1. Chapter 1

**Head's up! I changed the name of the character. I mean, don't get me wrong, I loved Charlotte Romanoff, but I thought that it would be nice to make my character someone who wasn't white. So, say goodbye (sadly) to Charlotte Romanoff, and allow me to introduce Zaara Singh. She's brown, because let's face it, there are no brown people in Criminal Minds, and when there are, they are terrorists. So let's raise our glasses to a coroner who's brown and pretty chill. I mean, her personality is the same as Charlotte, so there's not much of a difference. And she isn't a super genius, but rather just a genius in her own way.**

"It's been three weeks Hotch," said Rossi as they exited the elevator. "We need a replacement for Morgan, and –" he was cut off by the agent who raised a hand quickly.

"I don't know who we're going to replace him with, Rossi." He turned to face the veteran agent, a sad look on his face, "It's hard not having Morgan around, but he's moving forwards with his life. We're looking at potential candidates, but none of the ones that are coming out of Quantico would be a good fit with the team."

"Since when have we based whether a person is right for the job on how they fit with the team?" Rossi asked, looking annoyed. The pair sat down in Hotch's office and looked out of the window and into the bullpen at the remaining agents. Hotch watched as Reid slowly filled out another form before starting on yet another file from one of the several stacks that had ended up on his desk. While the younger agent was usually quite quick with his share of the workload, he was unusually slow ever since Morgan had left. Reid had spent the vast majority of his time within the office and outside of it alone. Hotch and Rossi both knew he was drawing out his workload so he would have a valid excuse for not joining in the team's after-work activities.

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" Rossi asked, although it sounded more like a statement.

Hotch nodded, "Reid never bounces back from things with ease. But with what's happening with his mother, Derek, and everything else. There's just been so many changes around here."

"You can say that again," sighed the older man, getting up. "I'm going to head back to my office-"

"There's no point, you might as well head to the conference room," said Garcia, who'd just appeared at the door. She was clutching her tablet and the clicker for the projector. Her eyes seemed slightly red, and Hotch knew instantly that this was going to be a gruesome case.

"Tell the others," he said as he gathered his supplies and headed towards the door, Rossi following closely behind.

Garcia nodded to Reid, Tara, and JJ who quickly finished the bit of work they were doing before joining the others in the conference room.

Reid cast a sad glance towards Morgan's empty chair, before forcing himself to focus on the files that Garcia had given him. There was something about having tangible files in front of him that made Reid feel as though some things in his life were permanent; even if it was a grisly case.

JJ watched as Reid turned to Garcia, waiting patiently for her to deliver a brief overview of the case. JJ nodded, knowing Garcia was also watching Reid waiting for him to kick into gear. It didn't take a profiler to realize that something was wrong.

Garcia clicked the "next" button, and the screen behind her quickly changed form a screensaver of the FBI seal to a picture of a woman lying the middle of a park, her arms at her side, hair scattered, eyes wide, and mouth open in shock. "Two weeks, a hiker found 32 year old Sarah Nichols lying in the Chester Valley Park. The hiker contacted LAPD who took over the case. The body had no signs of visible trauma and the FBI's coroner on the case noted that the body had no signs of lacerations, injections, and there were no toxins found in the blood. Three days later, they found 19 year old Simon Fray in the Lidden Gardens, with the same signs-" Garcia paused, "Or rather nonexistent signs. And this morning they found 25 year old Jennifer Clarkson in the Pine Valley Creek. The LAPD have asked for our help on the case, and that's where we're heading."

"We'll discuss the particulars of the case on the place ride there," Hotch said, nodding to the others, "Wheels up in twenty."

JJ quickly got up, smartphone in hand, prepared to tell Will that she wasn't going to be home tonight. Hotch wandered to his office, probably doing the same thing for Jack.

Reid and Garcia each gave one another a reassuring smile as they looked at Derek's chair. "He's doing fine, I visited him yesterday," she said, running a hand over the back of the leather chair.

Reid nodded, "He's spending time with his family, can't blame him for that," he sighed before exiting the room.

"He misses it here," Garcia said, as she watched Reid's back walk away from her. He paused in the doorway, head turning slightly to the direction of her voice. "He misses you." She didn't know whether she'd said the right thing or not as Reid merely faced forward and walked away. Garcia sniffed, turning back towards her office, and found Rossi standing behind her, a small smile on his face. "I just thought he needed to hear it," she said quietly.

"He did, and soon he'll begin to get used to it," Rossi said, giving Garcia a hug before heading to his office to grab his bag.

The plane had only been in the air for a half an hour before they hit turbulence. Everyone tensed as they buckled their belts, grimacing. Reid merely sipped his coffee and flicked through the maps of the city, mentally mapping out the locations so he could get started on the geographic profile the moment they touched the ground. His mind wandered and he thought of that case in Kansas all those years ago, when he'd told Rossi and Morgan that turbulence rarely causes planes to crash. A faint smile appeared on his face, but it was quickly wiped away when Garcia appeared on the laptop screen and they began to discuss the case.

"So there's a sicko out there who drugs these people?" Garcia said, without introducing herself.

"Yeah, pretty much," Reid said, glad someone else was talking. He flicked the case files open, "Judging by the distance between the drop sites and the abductions sites of each victim, and the fact that the traffic in LA is really bad, the Unsub can't possibly be living outside of a 20 mile radius from the epicenter."

JJ nodded, "so there were no physical signs of torture which could mean that the Unsub enjoys watching the victims going through some form of mental torture." She cringed slightly, wondering what sort of horrors the victims had to endure before their pain ended.

Tara sighed, "the ME reports state that there were no toxins at all." She looked up at the others, "sounds like something from a horror movie."

"Every case is a horror movie," said Rossi, grimacing.

Just then, a lout bleep emitted from Garcia's side of the laptop. She opened a quick email, which she then forwarded to the others, "The corner just messaged me. Apparently they've found something that they really need you to see."

Hotch nodded, "Reid I want you and Lewis to go to the coroners office, seeing as you two have the most experience when it comes to the medical field. The rest of us will set up base after visiting the last drop sight. We're also going to want to talk to each of the victim's immediate family."

Garcia nodded, "I'll let the FBI office know. And the Coroner." She turned off the call to the others, and let the coroner's office know to expect two of their agents. "Hi," she said, once the number was dialed and the office had picked up, "I wanted to talk to Doctor Z. Singh."

Being a coroner in Los Angeles was never boring, at least not in Zara's opinion. She enjoyed her job and enjoyed the fact that she lived in one of the most amazing cities ever. However, it was moments like these, when she was facing the remains discarded by some super-psycho that she really began to question her sanity. She picked up her phone and connected it to the Bluetooth speaker that was sitting on her desk. The beginning of Kanye West's "Can't Tell Me Nothing" began to play, and she slid on her gloves, turning to face the first of the victims. "Since there's nothing on the outside, we're going to have to go inside buddy." She raised a hand placed it over her heart. "Rest in Peace Sarah Nichols," she said, before grabbing a knife and slicing through the victims skin like butter.

A few hours went by and Zara was in her element. She had jotted down a few notes on the victim's individual organs as she removed them and placed them in a bucket next to her. It was only when she examined the folds of skin that she found something; a tattoo. She leaned in closer and wiped some of the tissue away before she could see the mark that was about the length of her forefinger; _3._

She quickly ran to her phone and hit the intercom button, "Jonathan tell the FBI people that I need to see them when they land. Not all of them, but at least one agent."

"Got it!" her secretary yelled. There was a pause before he said, "and Adam wants to see you. He's thinking about dropping in later."

Zara's blood stopped, she grimaced and turned back to the intercom, her finger slamming the button down, "Tell him I'm busy."

"That's what you told me to do yesterday, he's getting impatient," Jonathan said, with an evident sigh. "He's already mad you took his job, just talk to him."

"Tell him I don't care what he has to say. If he wants to work with me, he needs to know his place. And if he doesn't respect my work ethics, or myself as a person, he can go to hell."

Jonathan began to laugh, but noticed that she wasn't joking. He quickly disgused his amusement as a cough before saying, "Alright, but do you want me to say it exactly like that, or can I take some words out?"

Zara smirked, "Say it exactly like that, or I fire you." She made sure to change her tone to one more lighthearted so he knew she was joking.

"Consider it done, my love" he said, making sure she could hear his grin, before cutting the line.

She turned back to the body and sighed, her hands on her hips. "Runnin through the 6 with my woes," she muttered, humming along to her music as she wrote up what she'd discovered, before beginning to check the other victims.

When the flight had landed, Reid and Lewis had quickly exited in one of the provided cars, and drove down to the coroner's office, which was located in the heart of LA.

After almost a half an hour of being stuck in traffic, the pair exited in front of a large glass building, with the FBI seal on it. "Is this county or federal," they asked the cop who'd driven them there.

"Both," he replied with a smirk, as he tipped his hat before heading off. They opened the front door, and walked over to the receptionist; an old woman who was typing furiously. She barely gave them a glance, "FBI?" she asked.

"Yes," answered Reid.

She nodded, before pressing a button on the phone near her, "Jay, tell Singh the Feds are here. I'm going for lunch." She cut the line, and got up, collecting her bag. "They'll be here for you in a moment," she said, before exiting the desk.

Jonathan quickly headed to the foyer, where he spotted two extremely tall people; one man and the other a woman with FBI badges dangling from their chests. He quickly jogged over towards them, waving. "Hello, dear Feds," he said with a smirk, sticking a hand out and shaking the woman's hand. He went to chake the man's, but he politely declined, stating "I don't shake hands."

"Whatever floats your boat," Jonathan replied. "Lemme take you to the boss," he said, leading them into the building, and through some large hallways before they arrived at a section labeled "Z. Singh, Medical Examiner."

Reid looked at the man with interest. He embodied the picture he always imagined when he thought of the folks that lived in LA. He had shoulder length locks of golden hair, with golden skin, and golden eyes. In fact, the more Spencer thought about it, he looked like he were made out of solid gold.

As they approached the office, there was a faint sound of music coming from the coroner's workroom. He and Tara exchanged a look as Jonathan led them into a room. "Here they are, I'll leave you to it," he nodded to the pair, and exited the office.

In the centre of the room, standing between two tables, both topped with bodies that were emptied of their organs, was a tall woman, dancing around to the music they'd heard from down the hallway. She had tanned skin, black hair, and dark brown eyes. She was wearing a white lab coat and was taking off her gloves. Music blared from a lime green speaker set atop a desk in the corner. The woman turned to Tara and himself and nodded to them with a smile. "Hi, I'm Zara, or Dr. Singh, if you prefer. I don't care either way."

"Hi Dr Singh, I'm SSA Tara Lewis and this is Doctor Spencer Reid, of the BAU," Tara said, offering a hand.

Zara backed away slightly and raised both hands, "You don't wanna shake these hands. Not after where they've been," she said, nodding to the bodies around her.

Tara laughed, "true." She paused for a moment, her face slightly strained, "Hey, its Outkast" she said, nodding her head to the beat.

Reid gave Tara a look that said, "Really, we're surrounded by bodies and you're nodding your head to a song?"

Zara noticed the look on the younger, male agent's face and said, "I can turn it off if you want?" She made to pick up her phone, but the agent- Spencer was it? - spoke.

"Oh, no it's fine," said Reid, blushing furiously. "Are you the FBI's ME or are you county?"

"FBI," she replied. "But sometimes I deal with county if they need me- or if I'm bored."

"But you're all housed in the same building, and have the Federal Seal, we got confused," Reid began, knowing he was going to start rambling.

Zara grinned, "This is LA. We barely have enough buildings to hold the living, let alone the dead." She nodded to the pair and then back to the bodies. "So I invited you hear because I found something that will definitely be of interest to you."

Reid quickly spoke, "Go on, good Doctor," he said with a smile.

"Ah, a Whovian," the coroner replied with a grin, before turning to the first victim. "In my report I wrote that there were no sights of physical trauma to the body, nor to the brain. And there weren't any toxins at all," she paused, guiding them over to the first body. "Well, if you come a little closer, you'll see what I found," she pointed into the body, which had been emptied of all vital organs. A flap of skin was pinned down and the corner pointed to it, "I did the usual procedure, and looked at each individual organ. Didn't find anything. Then I thought about looking at the lining of each of the victim's internal tissue. That's when I found this," she bent the skin at an angle, and showed them a small number 3 that was inked in, almost like a tattoo.

Tara's eyes widened, "How is that possible?" she said. Part of her wanted to touch it, but she hadn't any gloves.

"I thought it was a mark at first, and rubbed it but… its inked in." She turned and directed them to the other two victims, "they have the same thing. The mark isn't in the same place internally, but they each have a number. Nichols had a 3, Fray was 7, Clarkson was 8."

Tara and Reid exchanged looks, "the Unsub numbered his victims?" Reid said, raising an eyebrow. "But how did they get the marks in there?"

Zara grinned, "Luckily for you, I know the answer to that all too easily. There are priests in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh that mark those in their temple with internal tattoos. They stretch out the skin and use extremely sharp needles to ink the design internally. There's some redness, even blood, but when it heals up and the correct topical ointments are applied, there is no visible evidence. Often times, monks get tattoos pertaining to God, but I've never heard of numbers." The coroner rested against one of the tables, a small frown on her face.

The two agents nodded, and looked at the other bodies some more as Zara watched, answering the questions they asked her. "Time of death?" Reid asked.

Zara looked thoughtful for a moment, "all three of them died about 7-8 hours before they turned up." She rolled her gloves off, and washed her hands in her sink, before grabbing the sandwich that was sitting on her desk.

Reid grinned, "You can eat surrounded by the dead?" he asked, as he looked at the third victim. He looked at the top of coroner's hands which were covered in strange markings, that were filled in mixture of black and white ink.

Zara took a bite of her sandwich and shrugged, "It's not like I'm eating meat. That would be weird," she said.

Just then the song changed and all of a sudden a loud rock song blared from the tiny speaker. Surprisingly enough, it was one that Reid recognized. "Is that AC/DC?" he asked.

Tara turned to Reid, inhaling sharply, a look of shock plastered on her face. "You know good and modern music?"

"Highway to Hell is modern?" Zara asked, a bemused expression on her face as she looked between the two agents.

"For me it is. I don't listen to much outside classical," he explained as he straightened up. "Are there any more victims that were found in parks lately? Perhaps they might fill in the gaps between the victims. Assuming that we're right about the whole numbering thing."

"Nope, nothing except , shankings, and shootings," she replied, scrunching up her plastic and throwing it in a garbage can. She nodded to the victims, "these are the only strangelings. Everyone else that's passed through here had some sort of visible mark that told me how they died, save this sorry lot."

"There's really nothing except those tattoos? Nothing else odd about them? No meds in their systems, or illnesses they could have had?" Tara asked, as she, Reid, and the coroner spoke.

Zara shook her head, "Nope. I mean, they're all really healthy- minus the fact that they're dead," she added with a nod.

Just then, a loud beep emitted from the phone on Zara's desk and Jonathan's voice echoed over the music. "Adam Thriyd is here, and he's mad."

Zara quickly jumped across the room to the phone, her finger slamming down on the button, "Tell him I'm not hear. Tell him _I'm_ lying on the table," she yelled over the music, which had changed to J. Cole's Miss America.

Reid and Tara exchanged looks as they watched the coroner. Just then, the door to the examination room swung open, and a huge, burly man entered, his face twisted in a smug expression. "I knew you were here today, Zara," he said, spitting her name as though it were a curse.

She rolled her eyes, "Of course you did, you're the one that schedules my hours, idiot. And incase you haven't noticed, I'm in the middle of a meeting," she nodded to the two agents who merely nodded and exchanged pleasantries with the man.

"Yes, yes, this was once my office. And You would have been dealing with me, rather than this unprofessional coroner who has to listen to music to get the job done," he replied icily, turning to Zara, who's jaw was set. He picked up the small speaker, and turned it off, "so unprofessional." He slammed it back down, and watched as Zara's face became three shades paler that it usually was.

Zara raised an eyebrow, "It's not unprofessional if it means that I get the job done. And seeing as I am now the FBI's head Medical Examiner in LA, the music must be working." Adam flexed his arms and rolled back his shirtsleeves, allowing his muscles to ripple freely. Zara did the same, and Reid was surprised to see her arms were covered in more markings. Various spiraling shapes wrapped around her arm all the way up and most likely past her forearm, where the lab coat was still covering her arms. "They fired you and hired me because I'm better at your job than you are. And if you can't accept that, then you better find yourself a new place to practice buddy."

Tara muttered something that sounded awfully like, "Oh shit," causing Reid to nod slightly.

Adam's eyes widened, "I trained you. If you're good enough than so am I."

"Well, I don't think that's the case seeing as you don't work here anymore. So get the hell out of my office, and so help me God if you come back, I will rip your career into so many tiny pieces that it'll be nonexistent."

Adam stood there for a few moments, as through he were choosing his next words wisely before he turned around and stalked out of the office, pausing only at the doorway to say; "We still on for dinner tonight?"

"Yep," Zara replied, with a wink before shutting the door on him. She turned to the agents who were standing there amused.

"Who the hell was that?" Tara asked, pointing to the door.

"He was the old bossman. And my husband."

 **OKAY, so that took a while to write. I might not update this story for a few weeks, partly because I wanna know how the rest of you are feeling about it, and what needs to be changed (if anything). I also wanna gage the reception of this story, cause if no one's reading it, then I'm not gonna waste my time writing it. So, just lemme know in the reviews, or PM me.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I would have updated sooner, but I've been kinda busy…. opens up new tab and starts playing * School's been a complete bust so far, as my Engineering prof is completely psychotic.**

 **Reid is my Hero: I was going to become a coroner before going into my current decision (Law/with a diploma in Engineering). One of my friends is a coroner and he was telling me about all the restrictions they have to abide by in their workspace/labs. You can't listen to music because some of the other coroners can get disturbed and it's just not appropriate when surrounded by the dead.**

 **Tannerose5: Charlotte Romanoff was the female OC in my original Criminal Minds fanfic called "Reid and Learn." I stopped writing it because I thought I could make the OC better than the one that I had created. As for the emphasis on race, it makes sense later on in this fanfic for what I have planned.**

 **But for now, on to the next chapter….**

Zara shook her head with a small smile, "Well, he's my soon to be ex-husband." She came around the table and back towards the body of the young woman. "So, we know what this sicko is doing once they're dead, but I really don't know how he's killing them." She frowned, "It's really pissing me off."

"I'd be surprised if it wasn't," said Reid, as he bent down to examine the eyes of the victim. "Do you think it could have been a gas or maybe they were starved?"

"No, a gas would have left some sort of residue, toxin, or component in either the alveoli, bloodstream, or somewhere. Plus, they had some recently fresh food in their stomachs."

Tara shrugged, "It's worth another shot, perhaps another round of autopsies might help." She spoke tentatively, not wanting the young woman to think she was suggesting that they ought to go to another coroner.

Zara bit back her tongue, "yeah. I'll get right on it and let you know once I'm done."

Tara and Reid nodded before exiting the office and heading back out towards the main foyer. "Her ex does not seem like a fun man," Tara said with a smirk, shaking her head at the behaviour she'd just witnessed.

"Mmhmm," Reid murmured, not really paying attention. He was usually aware of his surroundings and able to focus on cases, but occasionally he'd slip up and start looking at the women around him. " _Just like that an IQ of 187 is slashed to 60"_ Prentiss had said when he, Hotch, and Emily had been at a train station for a case.

They'd got back to the headquarters and caught up with Hotch, Rossi, and JJ. "Did the coroner have anything?" JJ asked, as she and Rossi flicked through some of the victim's files.

"Yeah. The victims all had tattoos on the inside of their skin, but they weren't the COD. Each of them had a number. Nichols has a 3, Fray was 7, and Clarkson was 8," Reid answered quickly, as he pulled a stack of papers towards him and began to read.

"We think these might pertain to the number of victims this guy has," Tara said. So we know for a fact that there are eight."

"Unless he's counting backwards," said Hotch, as he reentered the room with a few cups of coffee.

"So then we only have two more victims," said Rossi. "I know it's not the right thing to say, but at least it's only two."

"Unless he wants to go into negatives," Reid replied, causing the entire team to look at him. "Sorry," he said, though he sounded quite insincere.

Hotch nodded, "it doesn't matter if he's counting up or down. What matters is that we make sure that there isn't a another victim. Rossi, you and JJ keep going through these files. Tara and I will keep up with the geographical profile. Reid?" Hotch looked at him, "you're the only one with any sort of medical background. DO you think you'd be able to speed things up with the coroner? That's if they're okay with you joining in."

Reid paused for a moment before pulling a smile, "Sure. I'll give Dr. Singh a call and see." He quickly pulled out his phone and typed in the number for Zara's office. The phone rang three times, before Jonathan picked it up. "Hi, it's Dr. Spencer Reid."

"Yeah, FBI guy. I know you. Whatcha need?" Jonathan asked with a light voice.

"I was wondering if Zara needed any help with the victims. I have some medical knowledge and-"

"Lemme just put you on hold for a sec," said Jonathan, and before Reid could say anything he heard the man yelling, "It's the hot male agent. He wants to know if you need any help." Reid turned red despite knowing no one else was listening to the conversation. He didn't hear Zara's answer, but soon Jonathan was back online. "Yeah, she's cool with that as long as you don't mind getting your hands dirty and being surrounded by dead people."

"I don't mind that at all," stammered Reid, "I'll be there in ten."

Jonathan laughed, "This is LA man. You can't even die in ten."

Reid arrived at the coroner's office in just under half an hour, which was saying something seeing as it wasn't all too far from headquarters. He quickly navigated his way through the maze of halls until he found Zara's office. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open and saw Jonathan sitting at his desk with a small smile. "Told you it was going to take longer than ten," he said, standing up and grabbing his bag. "Tell Zar I'm clocking out. I don't really wanna get a stomach chucked at my head." He tipped the small hat he had on towards Reid, before ducking out of the office.

Reid quickly checked himself in the mirror by Jonathan's desk before going in. Just as he opened the suctioned door, a blast of cold air and the stench of rotting flesh hit his face. He gagged ever so slightly before shutting the door behind him. "Dr. Singh?" he said, looking around the eerily quiet room.

"I'm over here!" her voice said, "Grab the pair of gloves on the desk next to you. And bring me a few more bowls."

Reid did as he was told and quickly headed over to her side. She was examining a pancreas that no doubtly belonged to one of the victims. "I think I know what killed them," she said, as she took the bowls from Reid gratefully. "I was going to calla nd let you know, but you were already on your way here. Plus you could probably confirm my suspicions, especially with the PhD in Chemistry," she said with a smile.

Reid furrowed his eyebrows, "How did you-"

Zara grinned, "I didn't until now…. Just kidding, I got Johnny to look you up when you were heading here. I like to know who I'm working with."

Reid smirked, "So you got your secretary to Google me?"

Zara nodded, "paid a pretty price for him to not tell you about it." She slit another section of the already dissected pancreas open and grabbed a small swab. "So do you really have three PhDs? And three B.A.s?" she asked, as she swabbed away.

"Yeah," said Reid, taking the swab from her and loading it into a machine that scanned the sample for imbalances.

"Huh," Zara said, leading him over to the second and third pancreases from the other two victims. "You're a brown parent's dream, I can tell you that," she muttered as she picked up a scalpel.

"Isn't that-" Reid began, feeling slightly awkward. Whenever he was trapped in social situations with people he did know (which was becoming quite often), he always began to feel extremely self-conscious.

"Racist? No. I'm brown. It would be racist if you said it. But it sucks that you didn't laugh. A joke like that would have _killed_."

Reid raised an eyebrow and smirked, "A pun?... what happened to the music?" he asked, as he looked around the room. He'd thought there was something wrong since he'd gotten in, and finally had figured it out. It was far too quiet in the room.

Charlotte smirked, "my speaker died. Besides, I thought that you preferred the silence."

Reid was taken aback, "I don't prefer the silence. I just find it easier to work when its like that. But I also enjoy talking to people as well. Helps me get my mind off of things."

"That's why I have the music on. It's kinda depressing when the only time you set the table up with more than one set of cutlery is when you're hosting the body of a departed soul," Zara sighed as she and Reid both took some swabs from the pancreases.

Reid nodded, "I rarely have people at my place. I mean, my teammates have only been there a handful of times." Reid's throat constricted as he remembered Morgan, JJ, and the others cleaning up his apartment with him after Maeve died.

Zara noted the small flicker of discomfort on Reid's face, she steered the conversation away from home, and into the workplace. Perhaps Reid would be more relaxed with a topic that had brought him here. "So," she began, "How long have you been with the FBI?"

Reid silently thanked her, "11 years, 6 months, three weeks, and four days."

Zara looked at him for a moment, "You must really love your job to remember the precise day that you started."

Reid shrugged, "Don't you enjoy work?"

Zara nodded, "I love being my own boss. But whenever I need to talk to my boss about a raise I always have to find a mirror."

Reid gave a small laugh. It was clear that Zara used her humor (however odd the joke may be) to deflect questions that she thought were going to lead to a road that she didn't want to explore. Or she just thought she was extremely funny, but Reid thought it was the former. "Hotch's never too stingy about raises. He believes in equal pay."

"That's a good boss. Adam had a few different views. That's part of the reason he got fired. He didn't think women were supposed to get paid as much as men," she said with a slight edge to her voice. "I guess things worked out quite nicely, because now I make 1 dollar more than his unemployed ass."

Reid grinned and placed the other two swabs into the machine and watched as Zara pressed a few buttons, causing the machine to whirr around. "Shouldn't take too long," she said, leading him around to her desk. She pulled open a drawer and dropped a stack of takeout menus on the desk, "You must be hungry?"

"Uh, yeah" Reid said, twisting his hands together. "What are you thinking?"

Zara smiled, "Just think of it like this; this is my house, you're my guest, so you get to choose." She pushed the stack of menus towards him, "They're all categorized by cuisine."

Reid quickly headed over to the thai section, and soon they'd placed an order. Zara dropped the stack back into her drawer and they each took a seat on either side of the desk. "You cook?" she asked. Reid shook his head, "not really. Just the basics. You?"

Zara nodded, "Oh yeah. My mom taught me to cook before I could even walk." She spun around slightly in her chair, a faint smile on her lips. "She would make me sit on the counter as she rolled out rotis, made lentils, and yogurt. She wouldn't let me down until the food was ready and I'd recited the recipes. I never complained though, I love food."

"Rossi always said 'Food is the window to the soul'," Reid replied, as he fiddled with his hands.

"He sounds like a smart man," Zara said. "So," she leaned forward, "what's it like working for the FBI?"

Reid raised an eyebrow, "You work for the FBI."

Zara hid her exasperation, "I know that, but you're part of _THE FBI_. Like, the people that save other people. Anyone I get sent… well, it's been too late."

Reid felt somewhat awkward. He was never good at making people feel better. Just then, there was a knock at the door, "must be the food."

Zara nodded and quickly flung the door open, and was greeted by the delivery man. She took the food and picked up her wallet. "Desk already paid ma'am," said the man before giving her a nod and heading back down the hall.

She shut the door and placed the bag on the desk, "mmhm, smells so good!" Zara emptied out the bag and shrugged off her lab coat before rolling up her sleeves, once more exposing the tattoos around her arms.

Reid waited a few moments before he let his curiosity get the better of him, "What… what are those?" he asked, pointing to her arm, which rested on the table.

Zara smirked, "Well, they're tattoos aren't they."

"Yes, but what do they-" he was cut off by his phone ringing. "Hold on," he pulled it out and checked the screen. "It's my team," he quickly got up and headed into the hall, "Yeah, JJ?"

"We need you back at the station, now. There's been another victim."


	3. Chapter 3

"James Specter, aged 28. She was an investment banker at Sheridan Lawford Group. Same thing as all the others; no visible injuries or signs of trauma," JJ relayed to Reid as he walked into the conference room that the LAPD had provided them.

"Did you manage to come to any conclusions about the cause of death yet?" Hotch asked Reid, who flicked through the photos of the victim as well as her bio.

"Uh- not yet. But I should be getting a call any time now from the lab. We're waiting for the test results, and they shouldn't take too long." Just then, the phone rang, as though it were on cue. Reid quickly hit the button, "Dr. Reid here," he said, sounding a little hesitant and nervous.

"Hi there Doctor. I have the results from the tests we ran," Zara's voice said through the speaker. "Uh, I told you that I had a shrewd idea of what the COD might be, and it turns out that my idea was right. Apparently, the victims were all at risk of diabetes."

Rossi raised an eyebrow, "But wouldn't that show up in the ME report? Or even in their health records?"

Zara snorted, "It wouldn't show up because they're in the Twilight Zone of health problems. So, I did some tests and I found out that if they were given high enough doses of expired metformin pills and then given food with tonnes of sugar, they could essentially die from the spike, which takes a toll on the pancreas. That's why there wasn't any sign of external trauma. It's all inside."

Reid looked up at the others, as he spoke, "So what do you think this means?"

"You tell me, you're the profilers here. Give me a dead body and I'll tell you what happened, but I won't know why. I don't even know my ass from my elbow, and you're asking me what a person's reasoning is?"

JJ, Rossi, and Tara all stifled their laughs, while Hotch cracked the smallest of smiles. "Thanks for the help, Dr." said Hotch.

"Not a problem, let me know if you need any more dead people questions answered," she replied, before cutting the phone.

"She and Garcia need to meet. Like ASAP," JJ said as Tara nodded. They quickly dispersed through the room, collecting the pieces of information they'd gathered about the unsub, preparing to give the profile to the police.

"The person we are looking for definitely has a background in medicine, and was probably a pre-med student at some point. They obviously need to be incredibly smart to be able to detect whether a person's health is at risk, and they would have to have a high IQ," Rossi began.

"The lack of physical evidence at both the crime scenes and the lack of visible trauma suggest that they think they're the smartest person in the room. Keep an eye out for people who have an inherent desire to upstage those with them," Tara continued.

"Judging by the ages of the victims, as well as the individuals expertise in the field, they are probably between the ages of 30 and 40, " JJ said.

"They also have to be physically fit to be able to carry these women from both the abduction site, to the drop site," Reid added.

"Look for people who drive sedans or SUVs, as they probably carry the equipment to subdue and kill the victims with them," Hotch finished. "Any questions?"

A young cop raised his hand and Hotch pointed to him. He cleared his throat, "How're we going to know if it's him? I mean, there's got to be a ton of doctors that fit that description. They're smart and they want everyone to know it? That's literally every doctor."

Reid and Tara exchanged looks, remembering their first encounter with Dr. Zara. "When you meet this doctor, you'll know," Tara said, as she and Reid exited the room.

Reid turned to her, "You're thinking of Adam Thryid, aren't you?" he asked.

Tara nodded eagerly, "Yes I am." She pulled out her phone and quickly dialed Garcia. "Hey Penelope, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Shoot," said the blonde from miles away in Virginia. "You ahven't spoken to me in ages, I thought you'd all forgotten me."

"You're quite memorable," Reid said as they put her on speaker. "Could you do a background check on a man named Adam Thryid for us? He's a resident in LA. An ME."

Garcia paused, as she began to type in the information. "Sure, why?" she asked.

Tara and Reid exchanged looks, before Tara spoke. "He might be the unsub. We met him earlier today and believe me, he fits the profile."

Garcia clacked away and soon, she'd pulled up every piece of info on Thryid. "You're crazy doctor is quite the smarty pants. He graduated from Stanford with a pre-med degree, before going to Harvard for medical school. He graduated the top of his class."

"What's his IQ?" Ried asked.

"Umm….. 180," Garcia replied. "Don't worry, you're still the smartest Dr we know." She flicked through some documents before something caught her eye, "His wife filed for divorce a few weeks ago….." she trailed off, as her eyes widened at the name. "His wife is Zara Singh, the ME on our case."

Reid quickly thought back to the profile, "get me everything on Singh."

Garcia typed quickly and soon pulled up everything on the young ME. "She graduated from Yale, and went to Harvard as well. She's 32."

Tara quickly jumped in, "does she have any history of diabetes in her family?"

Garcia filtered the documents, "Yeah. She's a diabetic. Suffers from type 1 diabetes from the looks of things."

They both exchanged looks, before thanking Garcia. Reid turned to Tara, we have to let the others know now. She's having dinner with him tonight and there's a chance that might be when he's going to attack her."

They quickly headed back into the room, where the rest of the team was and filled them in of the information Garcia had provided. "We've got to at least consider him as a suspect," Tara finished.

Hotch nodded, "let's go to his apartment now." He looked through the documents that Garcia had sent them on their tablets and found the man's address. "That's not too far from here."

"This is LA," JJ reminded him, as they grabbed their vests and a few of the police officers.

In ten minutes, the team found themselves in front of Thyrid's apartment, busting the door down. Reid felt a slight twinge of sadness, fondly remembering how Morgan used to enjoy kicking down doors and tackling the runners.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" yelled a man from the backroom. They heard the sound of footsteps thundering down the hall and Adam emerged, dressed in a suit, a tie in one hand and a bowtie in another, a look of rage across his face. Tara and Reid stepped forward, and the anger dissipated slightly. "You're the FBI, right?" he asked. "What do you want?"

Reid nodded to the others, who returned their weapons to their holsters. "We wanted to talk to you about the deaths of four people in LA. All of them were diabetics poisoned with a lethal dose of metformin and sugar."

Adam raised an eyebrow, "what has that got to do with me?" he asked.

Hotch stepped forward, "Right now you're a suspect in a criminal case."

Adam's jaw dropped. "Me? A suspect? That's absolutely ridiculous. I don't even know how diabetes works. That's not my area of expertise. If anything, my ex-wife knows more about it than I do. She's the pre-diabetic."

The team suddenly exchanged concerned looks. "Wait, Dr. Singh is pre-diabetic?" JJ asked.

Adam nodded, "Yeah. She is. I remember taking her to all of the appointments and everything."

Reid paused. He knew it was a long shot to ask Adam whether he knew anyone who fit the profile, but there wasn't any other choice. After all, people who are full of pride gravitate to one another for the sole purpose of out-doing one another. He quickly read out the highlights of the profile they'd given to the police department. "Do you know anyone who fits this description?" Reid asked, praying that the answer was a yes.

Adam looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yeah. Yeah, the doctor that I took Zara to. His name was Dr Richard Samuels." He paused, "Zara had an appointment with him today."

"When?" asked Rossi.

Adam pulled out his phone and flicked through the calendar, "right now."

Zara waited patiently for Dr. Samuels to come to his office. She'd always made jokes about how any appointment with her was a doctor's appointment, which meant she could make the other members wait as long as she wanted to. But when it came to going to the actual Dr's offices, she was always the one waiting. It made her so frustrated. " _I spent over $200,000 to become a doctor, just so that I could sit and wait for other doctors. Honestly, I could write the prescription and read the medical charts myself_ , _"_ she thought angrily.

"Hey, Dr. Singh, sorry to keep you waiting," said Dr. Samuels, as he entered the room. He locked the door behind him and made his way to his desk.

"Not a problem," Zara replied, plastering a fake smile on her face, while suppressing her will to punch him in the face for the long wait. She watched as he fiddled around with something in his lap. "What's up?"

"Nothing," he replied, staring her dead in the eye. "Nothing at all."

A grin spread across his face, as Zara felt a chill in her spine. Something wasn't right.


	4. Chapter 4

**ARoy: Yep, I'm brown. The brown parent dream is alive and well in my family. By choice, though, not by force. Like, I'm in law right now. But I've done an engineering diploma on the side, and I've done some work in nursing. My sister's the accountant.**

 **#pick one: doctor/lawyer/engineer/business person.**

"So, we're going to play a little game of health roulette," said Dr. Samuels as he quickly stood up.

Zara's eyes widened before getting out of her chair and heading towards the door, which was locked. She quickly fiddled with the top lock, but a hand suddenly came out of nowhere and wrapped itself around her neck. "Get off of me now!" she yelled, as she was yanked backwards. Stumbling, she managed to regain her balance by grabbing onto one of the knick-knacks that littered the doctor's desk. She swung wildly and her hand connected with the doctor's shoulder. The clay sculpture broke and cut into both her hands and Samuels.

"You little bitch," he growled as he advanced, the needle pointed directly at her neck. "I'm going to make sure that this is nice and slow for you."

"You psycho," she muttered, as she threw a few punches to his torso. None of them slowed him down,- rather they just made him angrier. "What are you, the Hulk?"

Samuels gave a small laugh, "I'm going to miss that sense of humor, Zara." He quickly wrapped his arms around her upper body and held her against his torso as she plunged the needle into her neck, and injected the anesthetic into her system.

Zara's eyes fluttered, "what…" she trailed off, as she felt herself succumb to the darkness.

"The office is just ahead," JJ said, pointing to a small little house on the end of the street. Outside, hung a small sign that read; "Dr. Richard Samuels: Endocrinologist."

Reid's blood pounded through his veins as they pulled to the side, and jumped out of the SUV. Immediately, they headed to the front door and knocked a few times.

"Dr. Richard Samuels. FBI" yelled Hotch loudly. He did this two more times, before nodding to the man behind them who kicked the door in.

They quickly entered the foyer and heard a loud yell from upstairs. Reid headed up the stairs while Rossi covered him.

"Fuck!" yelled a gruff voice as they approached the door.

Samuels ran behind his desk and produced a small gun, before running towards Zara and holding her up as a shield. He placed the gun to her temple and had cocked the bullet when Reid and Rossi entered the room.

"Dr. Samuels, lower your weapon," Rossi said, as Reid took in the scene.

Judging by how Samuels was holding Zara up, she was most likely unconscious, the metformin working its way through her bloodstream.

Samuels placed a hand over Zara's heart. "It's beating quite slowly, agents. You might want to make up your minds fast, or she'll die."

"She can't. You haven't given her a large enough dose," Reid said, hoping that he was right.

Luck was not on his side, as Samuels smirked. "Oh, you want to bet? I gave her enough to siphon the majority of her sugar out of her blood- not that there was much to begin with. She's unconscious now, but if she doesn't get the right amount of glucose soon, she's gone."

Rossi edged forward, "Samuels, you're not going to get away with this. You're going to prison."

Richard smiled, "I have no intention of going there." He quickly pointed the gun to his own head and pulled the trigger.

Reid winced as the two figures collapsed; Samuels' body was twitching slightly. Rossi called downstairs, "we need a medic! NOW!" as Reid ran towards Zara's body.

He gently placed two fingers to her neck, "she's got a pulse. But it's very low."

"-fine after that. Need's some time to get her system back in order, and that's it," said a woman's voice. Zara's head hurt so badly, she thought it was about to split open. It felt as though someone had tried to pull her brain through her skull. She could hear people talking but couldn't make any sense of what was going on.

"Thanks," said another, a voice that Zara recognized.

Ever so slightly, she opened her eyes, and was met with a faint white light. "White," she said simply.

"You're in a hospital," said the really familiar voice.

Zara tilted her head ever so slightly and saw a few figures standing in her room. The one nearest was the only face she recognized; "Agent Reid, I've seen enough hospitals to know what they look like," she said sarcastically.

"Most people think they're in heaven," said a man standing in the back. He was slightly older with short black hair and a goatee.

Zara gave a small laugh, "I don't believe in heaven. I'm Indian. I believe in urns and reincarnation."

The team laughed and Hotch broke another one of his faint smiles. "How are you feeling?" asked Reid.

"Like shit, if I'm being perfectly honest….." she paused as a loud beeping noise filled her ears, "what the hell is that?"

"The heart rate monitor. It's really loud," said JJ with a smile.

Zara winced as she sat up, and gave the monitor a disgusted look. "If I knew it was going to be this loud, I would have stayed dead," she said with humour. Zara smiled at the team, "thanks for saving my life."

"It's what we do," said Tara.

"Way to be modest," muttered Rossi, as he headed towards the door. "Thanks for your help on the case," he said to Zara, who waved aside the compliment.

"It's my job to help," she replied, as the team filed out of the room- save for Reid. She turned to face him, "How long have you been here?" she asked.

Reid bit his lip, "a while." He paused, "Adam was here to, but he had to go to work."

"So he found a job?" Zara said with some sense of awe, "didn't think he would."

Reid paused unsure of what to say. Zara had been knocked out for a few days, and in that much time, the LAPD and FBI had decided to remove her as head coroner, and had given the position to Thryid. Reid had petitioned for Zara's reinstatement, but the LAPD was not having it. He didn't want to be the one to break the news to her, but someone had to. And who better to do it than someone she was never going to see in her life.

"He has your job," Reid said quietly.

"I'm sorry, but what did you just say?" Zara said, sounding both angry and close to tears. She leant forwards, "what did you just say?"

Reid took a deep breath, "the FBI and LAPD removed you as the head coroner and gave the job to Thryid.

Zara inhaled sharply. "You've got to be kidding me."

Reid looked down, "I'm sorry."

Zara muttered something in Punjabi, "they can't do that to me. I'm the best they've got." Reid looked up at her and watched as a few tears fell from her eyes. "I worked my ass off for that job, and they just handed it away? To him?"

"I'm so sorry," said Reid, standing up and heading for the door. He cast a glance back at the woman, sitting upright in her bed, tears spilling freely from her eyes. "I think you were much better at the job."

She looked up at Reid and smiled, "thanks."


	5. Chapter 5

It had been seven moths since the day Zara lost her job. She'd found other ones, by teaching classes in medical schools, or doing guest speeches, but she hadn't yet found something where she felt completely at home. It wasn't until Zara had searched through every job opening in LA, that she realized she wasn't going to be able to find anything.

However, on day 214 of "The Permanent Employment Search" Zara got a phone call from a friend of hers in Washington. "They need a coroner, and I recommended you," said Sheridan. "They looked at your profile and everyone they called gave glowing recommendations. You're in, so get your ass over here."

Zara was too shocked by the overload of information. "You're sure they want me?" she asked. "Like, I'm not going to get there, and they're going to be like 'who the hell is she?' Sure that won't happen?"

Sheridan groaned, "Just get here ASAP."

"Don't rush me," Zara grinned, running to her laptop to book a ticket.

The moment Zara set up her office and was running she immediately called Johnny. "You're coming with me unless you wanna work for a dick."

Johnny clearly dropped whatever he was holding and screamed loudly, "YASS GIRLI am there!" He dropped the phone on the receiver and quickly shouted into Thryid's office; m*********** I am gone!"

He showed up at Zara's office and the two were back together, blasting music and solving crime. It was all great until one day, Zara got a call.

"Miss Singh, we have an … unusual case. And we need your help," said a slightly nervous voice on the other end of the call.

Zara wrinkled her brow, "May I ask who's calling?"

"I'm Aaron Hotchner, from the FBI? We had a case at the beginning of the year. You were a part of it," Hotch said slowly from the other side of the phone, unsure if the woman was still traumatized after the event.

Zara felt her blood chill slightly. "Uh, yeah. I'll be there as soon as possible? Where is this case exactly?"

"Washington, we know you've moved there, and we could really use an expert," Hotch replied. "We're at the FBI headquarters, room 157."

"I will be right there," Zara replied, grabbing her bag and jacket. She quickly dropped by at Johnny's desk, "take the rest of the day."

He nodded, "you need me to come with you?" he asked, looking worried.

"No, I'll be fine. It was one of the FBI guys we worked with. They, uh, need my help," she said. "Go and pick up Taylor. You two deserve a weekend together. I know he's been super busy. I'll foot the bill, it's the least I can do for you."

Johnny gave her a hug and nodded, "I love you."

"I love you too," she said, turning on her heel and heading out to the lot, where her motorbike was parked. Her father had been adamant that she give up the 'ludicrous vehicle' and get a proper car. With her salary she could get any car she wanted, but she wanted a motorbike- in remembrance of her favourite fictional character.

Within ten minutes, she was walking into the FBI headquarters, and made a beeline towards the first officer she saw. "Hello, I'm Dr. Zara Singh. I'm looking for Agent Hotchner and the rest of the BAU. I'm here to consult on a case of theirs."

The man nodded and quickly led her up a flight of stairs and to a large conference room, where papers were scattered atop the circular desk. Along one wall was a series of pictures of bodies in various states of physical harm; decapitation, strangulation, burnt to a crisp, body parts missing… everything.

She let out a low whistle, alerting the team to her arrival, "well isn't that something?"

JJ quickly ran towards her, "Hi, I'm-"

"Agents Jareau, Reid, Hotchner, Rossi, and Lewis," Zara rattled off. "I remember you guys. You saved my life. These faces are engraved into my brain." She turned to Hotch, "so, what did you need me to do?"

Hotch quickly pushed a file towards her as she sat down at the table. She flicked it open and looked through the pictures. A man without a head, a man without a leg, another man without a left arm, one without a right, and it went on. "So he's taken body parts… enough to make a whole new person," she stated, looking up at them.

"Why did you need me?"

Reid quickly piped up, "We wanted to know why this person would do that. Like, how could these body parts be used? And how is he removing them?"

She raised a skeptical eyebrow as she examined the photos. She still associated him with the memory of losing the best job she ever had. While the pay was good at her new job, she never told anyone about how she ended up doing some bartending gigs, taking to the mic the same night to do some singing for some extra cash. The sting of everything she lost was heightened when she looked at him.

She studied the photos and looked at the wounds, "These wounds are cortorized, which is why there isn't that much blood, and the weapon of choice must be extremely sharp to make a swift cut… and there's a few tendons missing. So whoever did this took both the limb, and went into the rest of the body to take a more of the tendons from the open wounds. Makes sense if you're trying to stitch a body together."

JJ nodded, "explains the how. But what's he planning on doing with the corpse once it's together?"

Zara paused, "maybe he's creating his own monster. Like Dr. Frankenstein?" she looked around the room and her eyes lingered on Reid's for a second. The rest of the team gave her skeptical looks.

"Really? He's making Frankenstein?" Rossi asked the coroner.

"Frankenstein was the doctor. The monster was never named," Zara replied.

"Either way, you really think he'd building a person?" Tara asked.

"How'd he bring him to life?" asked a woman who popped up on a large screen against the opposite wall. She had blonde hair, glasses, and was wearing a polka dotted dress. In the background were hundreds of other computers. Zara guessed this was the team's tech person.

Zara stood up and headed to the clean whiteboard parked in the corner. She grabbed a marker and began to draw. "Hypothetically, if one managed to find the right body parts, all of which were healthy, fresh as possible, all with the same blood type" here she drew a stick figure. "They'd be able to reanimate the body. They'd place one wire carrying an electrical current on each side of the head to the brain, a set of resuscitation electrodes; one place over the left precordium, and on eover the back behind the heart between the scapula." She drew a diagram and turned to the team who looked at her in disbelief as she continued. "Based on the weight and health of the individual- which is quite poor because he's dead- they'd need to use an average of 700 joules of electrical energy, assuming they're using 300 has the base. They'd have to increase it depending on whether the body responds to the shock." Zara turned back to the others with a grin, "so does that answer your question?"

Reid spoke tentatively, "do you really think this is possible? Shocking him back to life?"

Zara considered him for a moment, "If people get shocked to death, who are we to assume that the reverse is not probable?"

"This makes no sense," Reid replied. "It's just ludicrous."

Zara raised an eyebrow and leant back on the board, "Maybe so. But this guy doesn't care what you think. He's chopping and stitching as he pleases."

"You're a doctor," Rossi replied. "Surely, there's some sort of study that has been done on something like this."

She closed her eyes, "When I was first in training, I worked as a paramedic. I have brought people back from the brink of death- and death itself- with my own hands." She opened her eyes and grinned, "Electricity is a fascinating thing. I believe if used correctly, this is possible. Shelley predicted the use of electricity as a means to solve cardiac dysrhythmias years before the idea was even on the horizon of comprehension to the world's finest minds of that time."

JJ placed a hand on her temple, "this is a lot of information to take in."

"Not as much as the electricity that corpse is going to have to take in," Zara replied grimly.

"Thank you for your help, Doctor," Hotch said, nodding her head and hinting that she could go.

Zara picked up her bag and coat, before nodding to the others. "If you need anything else," she placed a small card in the shape of a casket on the table.

Lewis nodded, "I'm sure that won't be necessary."

Zara turned to her, and they realized just how tall the coroner was as she towered over Lewis. "This individual is insane, and no other coroner is going to entertain the several hundred other possibilities that have crossed my mind since seeing these photos." She turned to the others, "you said this case was unusual, yes?" she asked Hotch, who nodded. "Well you just proved that when there's something strange in you neighborhood, who you gonna call?"

They all laughed, and Hotch cracked a small grin as she left. Hotch turned back to the table shaking his head. "I like her," said Garcia from the screen.

"I don't get it," Reid said bluntly, causing the others to shake their heads at Reid's cluelessness.


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm going on a trip in my favourite rocket ship-zooming through the sky….**

 **Yeah, so I'm going to be travelling for the next three weeks, and I won't have any access to my laptop to write any new chapters, so I'm just going to post three new ones on Thursday (the 11** **th** **) for each of my open stories (the flash one, this one, marauders, and POTC).**

 **So, without further ado, the next chapter of TGA &TNC**

"So, where are you on catching this sicko?" Captain Carlton asked, as she met up with the other agents in their conference room. She'd been adamant on letting the team be as free-willed as possible, but seeing as the arrival of the BAU hadn't yielded any new information, she was becoming slightly on edge.

Reid sat back on his chair and eyed the large map of Washington. "Well, we know he's somewhere in the Southeast Washington area. The vast majority of the abduction sites and drop sites are located around Suitland Parkway." He pointed to a long and winding road across the lower right side of the map.

"Uh-huh," muttered Carlton, looking at the map in disappointment.

"We're going to catch him Jessica," Hotch said. "I promise."

Just then, Garcia popped up on the large monitor on the wall, "We've got another victim. Todd Jennings, age 25. His eyes were missing."

JJ closed her eyes and rested her head on the back of her chair, while Tara tired not to puke. "Where was he found?" Reid asked, getting up and walking back to the map.

"Congress Heights," Garcia replied. "The coroner is looking at the body right now."

"Singh?" Rossi asked, looking at Reid for a fraction of a second.

"Yep," Garcia replied. "She said she'd head over here if she finds anything."

"Thanks Garcia," JJ said, opening up one of the files in front of her.

The BAU was in the middle of some takeout Thai when the phone rang. Tara quickly wiped her hands and answered, "Agent Lewis of the BAU here."

In the back she could faintly make out some music and she knew exactly who it was. "Hi Agent Lewis. Is the rest of the team there?" asked Zara.

"Yeah they're here," Tara replied nodding to them.

"Well, if they're eating they might want to stop. I found something."

"What did you find?" Hotch asked, leaning towards the phone.

Zara grinned, "well this is pretty messed up but in the pictures you showed me, one of the victims was decapitated. I went down to the coroner's office and got the report and the initial police file. Apparently, the eyes of that specific victim were taken from the head and left by the body. Which made me think- why take the head if you don't want the eyes?"

The team looked around and shrugged while Rossi leant in, "the eyes are the window to the soul."

Zara laughed, "Nice one Agent Rossi- but no. That's not it."

"A person's eye colour can change their face dramatically," Reid said suddenly.

"Right in one," Zara replied, and they heard a clang like she'd put one of her tools down. "Apparently the person who's doing all the recrafting didn't like victim number one's eyes as much as they did the rest of his face. So they left them behind. And now, he's found what he was looking for- a pair of beautiful periwinkle eyes."

"And what is this supposed to mean?" JJ asked, confused.

"Well, I contacted Miss Garcia at the FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virgina. After a headed discussion on the pros and cons of Hillary Clinton as our new President, I asked her to get me a photo of victim one's head but with blue eyes. She's currently running that through the database to see if anyone looking remotely like that died in the past few years in the Washington area. I thought that perhaps, this guy might be trying to remake someone they lost."

"Just like Kansas," Rossi replied, and the others (expect Tara nodded).

They all went quiet and Zara quickly spoke, jerking them out of their memories of a prior case. "Well, I don't know what happened in Kansas, but if the guy was killing and knitting then they should really start a club in prison."

Rossi grinned, "Thanks for the information Singh."

"Anytime," she replied before cutting off the phone.

JJ immediately called Garcia and asked how the search was going. "I was just about to call you," the tech agent said. "I found one person who matches the facial features of the first victim. Tyler Anderson, age 29. He died in a fire three months ago. He left behind a wife, Cheryl."

"Any siblings, father, uncle, close friends?" Hotch asked.

"Nope, she's the only family," Garcia replied. "Are you trying to insinuate that women cant be killers cause- why am I arguing for this?" She paused and clacked away on her keyboard, "I sent all the info to your tablets and all the photos of Anderson I could get. He looks freakishly like the first victim."

Hotch nodded to the others, "I guess we have a suspect."

They quickly grabbed their things, heading for Cheryl Anderson's home. They pulled into the driveway of a small bungalow, on a quaint little street. Slowly, they headed to the front door and knocked loudly. There was no answer. Hotch waited before nodding to one of the other agents they'd brought with them, who kicked the door down.

Immediately, the team entered and dispersed, filling the rooms and checking for any signs of Cheryl. They all came back to the foyer, "nothing."

Suddenly Reid called from the back, "found something." They headed in the direction of his voice and found him in a small back room that was locked. He looked up at them, questioningly. "What do you think?" he asked Hotch- who was the only one who knew the laws about unlawful search and seizure in practice.

Hotch nodded, "we can go in."

Reid nodded and the door was thrown open. Immediately the stench of decaying flesh filled their noses. JJ gagged and Tara covered her nose with her shirt. Hotch and Rossi covered their faces with their hands while Reid breathed normally. In the centre of the room was a large tub filled with ice- a sheet thrown over it. It didn't take the bloodstains on the floor and the sides of the tub to realize what was in there. Reid hesitated before removing the sheet, causing them all to gasp. On top of the ice was a body- well almost a body. Some parts were missing and some hadn't been properly stitched on but it was still a body. The head had two metal rods sticking out from the brain- just like Frankenstein's monster.

"Jesus Christ," said one of the officers they'd brought with them. "What even is that?"

JJ walked around the tub and towards the back of the room where a large metal table was stuffed. Along the sides were restraints, and two foot holders at the bottom. The legs and edges were coated in rubber. She moved it out of the way and found something even more disturbing. "Odyssey PC680-P battery" she read out.

"That's the strongest battery there is," Rossi said.

Behind that they found a large defibrillator machine from a hospital and a set of jumper cables.

They stood there and tried to comprehend what they were seeing when the a cellphone rang. JJ quickly answered it and turned to the others, relaying the information she was given. "Cheryl Anderson is on the run."


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the rushed chapter! I've written 12 new chapters overall, three for each of the four stories I have, so please please please cut me a little slack for the shortness of these chapters. I can't wait for this vacation!**

"Do they know where she's heading?" Hotch asked JJ.

She shook her head, "somewhere on the eastbound highway." She paused, slapping her phone on her hand. "Maybe she's trying to head back home?"

"Back home? What about this guy?" Tara asked, nodding to the ice tub in the room. "She can't just leave her work behind."

"Maybe she's going to start over," Rossi supplied. "I mean, there's not much to go on, but think if she was trying to get closer to her husband, it would make sense to go where they began."

Hotch nodded and pulled up Cheryl Anderson's file, "she and Tyler first lived in Middleton. That's a small town a half an hour away from here!"

"Let's go," JJ said, holding the door open as everyone exited the residence and headed into the large SUVs.

A few moments later, they were barreling down the highway, looking out for Cheryl's silver van. Suddenly, Reid jumped up and pointed a few lanes away, "there she is."

Rossi, who was driving, stepped on the acceleration and turned on the flashers. He quickly cut across two lanes; cars were swerving to avoid him. Immediately, tey nudged Cheryl's car, and guided it to the side of the highway, where the team exited their vehicles and surrounded her. "Cheryl Anderson- please exit your car slowly and put your hands on your head."

They waited patiently and soon a petite brunette stepped out of the silver van. She gently placed her hands atop her head and Hotch shouted out more instructions. "Take five steps backwards- keep your hands still."

She complied and soon the police department quickly handcuffed her and marched her to the nearest car.

JJ exhaled a sigh of relief, "that's one person off the streets."

"This job is like trying to kill a hydra. You cut off one head and two more grow back in its place," Tara muttered as they headed back to the cars.

As they packed up their belongings, Garcia suddenly appeared in their conference room. "Hello family!" she yelled, giving them each a hug. She turned to JJ and Tara, "So I gave our dear little coroner a call to thank her, and I decided that a mere phone call wasn't enough- so we're heading to the pub to celebrate a job well done!"

Tara, Rossi, and JJ were on board, however Reid and Hotch were somewhat skeptical.

"I've got a book to read-" Reid muttered.

Hotch began, "there's still some sort of files I need to-"

JJ groaned, "Hotch come on, you have to join us! Please?"

It took some convincing but he agreed, while Tara pointed out that Reid could finish the entire series of whatever novel he was reading while they were on the plane back to Quantico.

They quickly left their stuff in the cars and grabbed their wallets, filing into the small pub that Garcia had told Zara about. They managed to snag a large enough table and were promptly served by one of the bartenders, who placed large flagons of beer on the table.

They began to drink and talk among themselves, when they heard a loud clang from behind, and a loud "sorry jackass!" Just then Zara appeared in front of them, dressed in a white top and black pants. "Sorry, got a little caught up at work. Apparently some hotshots from the FBI found some sort of Frankestien-thing."

Garcia smiled as she was introduced to Zara, "I like you."

"Aww," Zara said, placing a hand on her heart "can you share that sentiment with the rest of my family?" She waved over to a bartender and nodded, "Hey Jack, pour me one Linc in the Sink please."

Jack nodded, and headed to the bar. "I thought you weren't coming in today," he said as he returned with her drink.

JJ and the rest of the team rounded on her, "wait what?" she asked.

She closed her eyes and shook her head, "thanks Jack. Thanks." Jack grinned sheepishly before apologizing and heading to another table.

"What does he mean- do you work here?" Reid asked.

Zara sighed and nodded, "surprisingly, not many people die here. So I don't make that much money. I needed extra cash and this was the best place."

"You're a bartender?" Rossi asked, clapping with joy. "A woman of many talents."

Zara laughed, "I'm no bartender, but I do make a mean mimosa. I'm a pretty good singer and instrumentalist from what I've been told. The bar needed some live music and I offered. Been about the only useful thing I've been able to do here," she sighed taking a swig from her glass.

"But I thought that you were head coroner here?" Hotch asked.

Zara snorted, "Hell no. It took me ages to get that position in LA- but only a matter of hours to lose it. I'm a solo practicioner. Like a doctor. Except all my patients only visit me once- like a one night stand."

The team spat their drinks out at that last comment. "Most coroners that I've met have such horrible demeanors."

"Yeah, well most coroners aren't exactly the film-loving type," Zara muttered, "they're usually too busy cutting people up and bingeing Netflix. I like to diversify by adding music."

"That explains so much," Tara stated, drinking her beer.

Garcia grinned mischievously,"Do you think you could treat us to any of your wonderful singing?"

Zara nearly spat out her drink, "Umm, I thought I said I wasn't working today." The rest of the BAU looked at her expectantly. She felt her face redden, "sure." She quickly finished the small amount of her drink and headed up to the tiny stage, where a mic had been placed under a small spotlight. "So, i usually don't sing on my days off, so forgive me if I sound like crap." She drew a deep breath and one of the bartenders quickly played a track- 6 Inch Heels by Beyonce.


	8. Chapter 8

**So, I'm going away for a few weeks and I decided to post two chapters for each story today because I won't have access to my laptop for a while.**

The women of the team and their new favourite coroner were now beginning to make a routine out of meeting up together and having a little chat when they returned from cases. In the odd scenario, they would send Zara their photos of victims to analyze. In fact, both Rossi and Hotch were insisting she become their permanent coroner. The rest of the team was shocked at that information merely because Hotch wasn't one for hiring those that were seemingly unprofessional. Most of the FBI teams thought that Garcia was a bit much, merely because they didn't realize she was incredibly good at her job.

It wasn't until Hank's (Derek's son) first birthday that Zara managed to meet Derek himself. She constantly found JJ, Tara, and Garcia (especially) mentioning Derek Morgan. After the four women had caught up for a cup of coffee, Garcia asked if she wanted to join them to meet Morgan.

"I don't really know him- or his wife," Zara explained, as they exited the local coffee house.

JJ laughed, "Savannah is a doctor at the hospital. I'm sure you two will have enough to talk about."

Zara smirked. "The hospital? She saves people. She's the reason that I don't get many bodies."

JJ, Tara and Garcia all nodded in agreement. But Garcia still wanted Zara to come. The other's hadn't noticed but Zara and Reid rarely spoke. For a pair of people who were extremely smart (from what the team could tell, you had to be pretty smart to get into Harvard), they rarely spoke at all. It had been a few years since Maeve died, and Reid was beginning to show signs that perhaps he was open to seeing new people. he had invited a translator from one of their old cases for coffee a while back.

"Just please come, it'll be fun! And you'll love Derek. He's hilarious," Tara replied, as Zara headed to her motorcycle.

Zara considered this before responding, "when is it?"

JJ and Garcia exchanged grins, "Alright it's tomorrow night at 6. I'll text you the address."

Zara nodded and put on her helmet, before zooming off down the street. JJ watched with mild interest. "Don't you think she ever gets cold?" JJ asked.

"She's Canadian. They don't get cold," Garcia replied, getting into the passenger's seat of Tara's car.


	9. Chapter 9

Zara hesitated on the front steps of the Morgan residence. She teetered on her feet before pressing the doorbell. A few footsteps later, the front door swung open and a handsome black man stood in front of her, "Hi I'm Derek Morgan. You must be Zara. Zara Singh right?"

Zara nodded, "Yeah." She shook hand with him, and entered the house. "I've heard so much about you from the team."

Derek led her through the house and, into the kitchen, where she spotted the rest of the team, a few of Derek's family members, and a few of Savannah's family. "So, I hear you're a coroner," said Derek conversationally.

"Yeah... I suck at Operation," Zara replied absentmindedly as she took in her surroundings. She spotted Rossi and Hotch talking to a pretty black lady who was holding a small baby. "Is that Hank?" Zara asked.

Morgan followed her line of sight and a huge smile appeared on his face. "Yeah, that's my boy." He led her over to where the three of them were talking and introduced Savannah to Zara.

"I'd shake your hand but it seems like they're a bit full," Zara said, as she nodded to the small boy and grinned.

"Do you have any kids?" Savannah asked, as she let Zara hold Hank.

"No, not yet. I'd love to one day," she replied, letting the small child pull at the silver bracelet on her arm. She passed Hank back to Savannah and pulls out a small gift box from inside her bag, "I got him a little something. I thought it would be cute, what with you being a doctor and all."

Morgan took the bag with thanks and opened it, pulling out a small lab coat that would fit Hank perfectly. 'That is actually pretty cool," Derek said.

"We've been looking for one of these for ages," Savannah said, slipping it onto Hank and letting everyone admire the look.

Zara blushed, "I, uh, stitched it."

"You didn't have t-" Morgan began, but Zara interrupted him.

"Oh, not it's no problem at all. I enjoy stitching up fabric for a change," Zara replied with a laugh.

Morgan grinned, "Garcia told me you were funny."

"And I was right, as always," a voice said from behind Zara, who shifted aside to reveal Penelope, who passed Zara a drink. "So, isn't she amazing!" she asked Derek (though it soon like a statement).

"And you were right as always," Morgan replied. "Especially when it comes to..." Morgan trailed off, causing Zara to choke on her drink.

"Amazing for what?" Zara asked, looking between the pair, who merely exchanged looks.

"Don't bother trying to get anything out of them. It'll never work," said a voice behind her. Reid appeared at her side, and merely grinned as he looked at Hank.

"So I've begun to learn," Zara replied under her breath. "Trying to get a secret out of Garcia and Morgan is like trying to plan a prison break."

Immediately Rossi and Will turned around, "WHO SAID PRISON BREAK?" They yelled in unison, looking around the room.

Zara's eyes widened as she raised an arm,"I did." He sleeve fell back slightly and revealed a portion of the tattoos that covered her body.

Reid looked at them with interest but decided to wait until the time was right to ask her. "So, I was talking with Tara a few days ago an she mentioned that you can read- what was it 20,000 words per minute?"

Reid merely nodded, "Yep." he bounced slightly on the balls of his feet and tapped a finger anxiously to the edge of his glass.

Zara whistled, "Wow, what are you the Flash? And I thought the fact that I could read Lord of the Rings in two days was impressive. You could read them in like, 36 or 37 minutes." Reid turned to her, surprised. "You calculated that?"

Zara grinned, "I'm brown. Math is like air to me. I was going to go into engineering, but that was just way too much oxygen."

Reid -in all the time that Zara had known him- finally smiled. Zara looked at him with interest. He actually looked quite good with a smile, rathe than looking as though he were contemplating a particularly difficult math question.

The pair stood in silence before Reid decided to be the one to break the ice. "What do that tattoos mean?'

"They're just tattoos," Zara replied with a mischievous grin.

Rossi and Will, who were nearby, snorted into their drinks and Ross patted Zara on the shoulder. "Best. Coroner. Ever."


	10. Chapter 10

**As you can tell by the previous chapter, I am rematching my beloved series called Prison Break. If you haven't watched it, you need to. And if you have watched it, then watch it again cause they're making a FIFTH SEASON MOTHERFUCKERS. I did my waiting! Seven years of it!**

 **Oh, and have any of you read the Cursed Child yet? I did and I am not a fan of the entire thing. I think I liked about 47% of it. It just didn't have the Rowling flair to me. I don't know... maybe if I saw it in person... but I don't know. Let's just assume that I don't know anything... (plz message me in the PMs cause I need to talk about my feelings... and I'm pretty sure you do to).**

Since meeting Morgan and Savannah, Zara had been inducted into the family, and was soon found hanging around with JJ, Garcia, and Tara when she was able to. She was also found in Reid's company when she was needed for a case.

In fact, she was the team's unofficial coroner, and constantly found herself tagging along with the team to various places across the United States; Montana, Washington, Delaware, North Carolina.

Currently, they were sitting in Chicago, Illinois discussing a case where a man was currently hunting down women with one thing in common; money.

"So, he kills them by forcing them to eat money," Zara said, as though it were a statement. "And from what I got out of their stomachs- without the acid burning it immediately- he's using $1 bills."

"How does that help us?" Tara asked, looking at the coroner.

Zara rolled her eyes. In the past few days, the team had become increasingly temperamental over the rising death toll thanks to this psycho. "Well, each bill has a serial number, and if Garcia would kindly hack into the ATMs and all banks around this general area, we'd be able to find out when this bill left said bank, and which till or ATM provided it. And then, we'd get the security feed to said location and tune it to the time that transaction was made... then we catch the guy."

Rossi, who'd just entered into the room laughed, "we should just hire you. You're a coroner, how do you know this kind of stuff."

"Common sense... not so common anymore I gather." Zara quickly pulled out her phone and called Garcia, pressing the button to put it on speakerphone.

A few short rings later, the techie picked up. "Hello my lovelies, how are you?"

"Hey Penelope, you're on speaker... I was wondering if you could help us with something..." Zara asked, hesitantly. She felt odd giving Garcia orders, seeing as she wasn't even part of the team, let alone the FBI.

"Shoot, my lovely chocolate."

"Well..." Zara rattled off the instructions to Garcia who began clacking away on the keyboard. "Thanks, Pen."

"I'll let you know when I get something," Garcia replied, cutting the phone.

Zara sat back in her chair, her eyes closed and her hand fiddling with her wrist, "and now we play the waiting game."

The team sat in silence, counting the minutes until Garcia would call them back with her findings. As they waited the clock hit 6, and Zara stood up, grabbing her bag. "I'll be back in a moment. Just answer my phone if it rings," she said to Reid who was sitting next to her. he merely nodded in response, his eyes fixed to the clock, and Zara left. She entered the washroom and stopped her bag on the vanity, searching for one object. She pulled it out a moment later- her insulin injection. The dosage had been increased by her new doctor, and she now had to take it twice a day. She quickly injected it and disposed of the needle in the garbage. She decided to use the washroom while she was in there, and waited for the wave of nausea to pass before grabbing the bag and heading back into the room.

Meanwhile in the conference room, Zara's phone rang and Reid immediately answered it. The others jumped forward, waiting for Garcia to respond. Reid waited, a low chatter emitted from the speaker of the phone. "Hello?" he said loudly.

"WHO THE BLOODY HELL IS THIS?" A woman screamed from the other side of the phone. "ZARA KITHE HAI?" (Where's Zara?), said the woman in rapid fire Punjabi.

Just then, Zara entered the room, and saw everyone crowded around her room, She quickly took the seat and Reid passed her phone to her quickly. "Garcia?" Zara asked, forgetting to take the phone off of speaker.

"GARCIA KHON?" (Who's Garcia?). "MEH THERI MA BHOLDHIA!" (It's your mom speaking!).

The team watched as Zara grew red and took the phone off of speaker. "Sat Sri Akal, mumi-ji. Ki hal challo?" (Hi mom, how are you?). Everyone turned to Reid, who knew the most languages. He turned back to them and shook his head. "I never learnt this one," he mouthed back. They sat in silence as Zara spoke to her mother. "Viya? Khira?" (Wedding? Whose?). Another pause. "Saabi and Jeet? Vidaaya sare a nu" (Saabi and Jeet? Congratulations to everyone!). The team heard more yelling and Zara sighed, holding her head, looking stressed out. "Mum, meh hajai viya ne karna!" (Mom, I don't want to get married yet). She closed her eyes as she spoke, "deehkdai ya, je on gora jai apna bandha ya" (We'll see if the next person I marry is white or indian). She took a look at the others who merely looked back at her, confused. "Mum, mai jaana pena. Usi phir goal kar len gai. Sat Sri Akal." (Mum, I have to go. We'll talk later). Zara cut the phone and quickly put it back in the middle of the table, incase Garcia called. The redness began to go away from her face as she looked at the rest of the team. "What?"

"Was that your mother?" JJ asked, pointing to the phone and trying not to laugh.

The blush returned immediately, "Yeah." Zara sighed, "I haven't spoken to her in a few months."

"Months?" Reid asked, turning to her. He wrote to his mother everyday, not that she'd be particularly bothered if he forgot to once in a while. He couldn't believe that someone wouldn't make the effort to call in every week or so.

Zara shook her head. "I don't exactly get along with them."

"Your family, you mean?" Hotch asked, raising an eyebrow.

Zara nodded, "they weren't exactly happy when I married Thryid. They- uh- didn't show up to the wedding." Everyone looked shocked, Zara laughed. "I haven't seen them in ah... 5 years."

Just then the phone rang, and she quickly answered it, "Garcia?"

"Yeah, it's me. Well, today is your lucky day-"

"I seriously doubt that," Zara whispered loud enough for Reid to hear her, causing him to smile.

"-and the plan worked! I found your guy- Shawn Jenner, aged 43. Lives at 12 Edgecombe drive."


	11. Chapter 11

The next time the team and Zara got together, it was for the coroner's 30th birthday. They'd forced her into celebrating her birthday (something she'd never done since she'd split off from her family) and Garcia had snuck into the young woman's house using the key she'd been provided months prior to set up. Kanye West's new album played loudly in the background as they milled around the young woman's flat in the middle of Washington.

The entire team raised their glasses and made a quick toast, "here's to joining us in the 30s!" They all cried.

Zara raised an eyebrow at Hotch and Rossi, "you're still in your thirties?" she said with surprise. The pair pretended to be annoyed as Garcia pulled out a cake that was in the small shape of a lightning bolt. "HARRY POTTER CAKE!?" she yelled, turning to the team who grinned at Garcia and Jonathan maniacally. Zara turned to the pair and pulled them into a tight hug, "I can't believe that you guys did this for me." She turned to Jonathan's boyfriend Taylor, "he's a keeper" she said, pointing to Jonathan, who began to blush.

Zara turned back to the cake and was about to cut it before, she realized they needed candles. "I swear it would be quicker to light the cake on fire," Rossi said, still thinking about Zara's "you're old" joke a few moments ago.

Zara stuck out her tongue and grinned, as she and Reid quickly stuck the candles around the cake. "29...30...31," Zara said, tossing the remaining candles aside and grabbing a lighter.

A few moments later, the team was in the middle of a crowd-pleasing rendition of "Happy Birthday." Once they'd finished, Zara blew out all the candles, save for one. "It's an Indian thing," she said when Reid asked.

A slice of cake and a few drinks later, the entire team was sitting down in the large sitting area, wine/beer in their hands. "-So I said to her 'That's not my brother... that's me!" Jonathan finished, making them all laugh.

JJ wiped a tear from her eye, as she rested against Will's legs, "And they actually bought it?"

Johnny nodded, "Oh yeah. You can get anything by the police if you try hard enough."

"Yeah, as long as you're white. If Zara, The Morgans, or I did that, we'd be dead," Taylor laughed.

Hotch grinned, "As an agent, you know I'd have to report you, right?"

Everyone turned to him and someone (most likely Derek) muttered, "party pooper."

"Bathroom?" Tara asked, and Zara pointed to a door that was just visible on the end of the hallway. As she returned, she spotted a small picture sitting atop a table in the hall. She picked it up and immediately recognized one of the figures. It was Zara, dressed completely in a burgundy dress embroidered with gold. On either side of her were (Tara assumed) her parents. One of them was a tall man with a completely white, long beard, and a turban and the other was a woman wearing almost as much jewelry as Zara was. "Nice photo," Tara said loud enough for Zara to hear her.

Zara turned her head and spotted Tara standing by the small table. She smirked, "Yeah. It is." JJ and the others looked confused and Zara nodded, "You can bring it here for the others to see."

Tara picke did up gently and passed it to JJ, who smiled brightly, "you look beautiful!" she exclaimed, passing it round to Hotch.

"Don't I always?" Zara asked jokingly.

Garcia was speechless. "That is a lot of bling girl," Savannah said, her eyes wide.

"It's practically customary - to load the girl with as much jewelry as you can. She's only going to have the one wedding..." her voice trailed off, and she shook her head. "Kid of screwed up that last bit though." She brought herself out of that and continued, "that's not even the half of it."

"I was about to ask. Where's Adam?" Reid asked, passing the frame back to her.

Zara quickly got up and dug around in a closet by the room, before unearthing a large photo album. She placed it on the coffee table so they could all see. The first photo was of a large family, practically falling out of the sides of the photo. "Those are all of my immediate relatives and friends." Reid raised an eyebrow, "I'm Brown, okay? No family member left behind." She flicked through it and they saw various photos of Zara.

"Are these all from the wedding day?" Rossi asked, his eyes wide as the book continued.

"No, there's a whole lead-up to Sikh weddings... We had the Sangeet - which is basically where you have a huge pre-wedding party with all the girls side of the family, but you invite a few members of the boy's family. Basically, the bride and all the women sing rude and inappropriate songs about the boy and his family. Then we have the Mehndi- Henna, where they decorate my arms and legs completely with intricate designs. Then there's the Mayian the day before the wedding, where they rub me with a paste made of mustard oil and turmeric powder. Then there's the Chura, where my maternal uncles and aunts give me a set of red and cream ivory bangles, which I can't take off for six weeks after the wedding." She pointed to the bracelets she was wearing in the photo, that covered the majority of the henna on her arms, except her hands, where the intricate patter was visible. "After that we have the Anand Karaj, where we go to the Gurdwara-" she caught the confused look on everyone's face. "Temple... we go to the Temple. And that's where we get married. They read out specific sections of the Guru Granth Sahib and the couple perform the Laavan- they walk in four circles after each hymn. Then you're officially married. And then there's another party."

The crowd took in this information slowly. "That must take forever," Johnny said, shaking his head in amazement.

Zara nodded, "Yep. You're looking at about a week's worth of festivities, and a year's worth of planning. And a ton of people."

They continued to flip through the book, the others not hesitating to ask questions about the ceremonies. One section had pictures of women with golden pots that had lit candles on their head. "is that safe?" Taylor asked, in shock.

Zara laughed, "that is normal. It's called the Jaggo. It's the same night as the Sangeet, and you dance up and down the street- outside, where everyone can see you."

"You go outside and make noise?" Garcia asked with a grin. "I am down with that!" she cried.

Zara nodded, "you might be in luck. My mum called the other day, letting me know that one of my cousin's is getting married. And I can bring guests if I want."

Garcia and JJ nodded fervently, "Oh that would be amazing!" the pair cried.

Zara shook her head, "you're going to be dead tired by the end of it. Not going to want to eat another samosa for the rest of your life."

"There's going to be food?" The men all asked in unison.

"This is a brown wedding," Zara repeated with emphasis. "I would think that would be implied at this point."


	12. Chapter 12

**So, a lot has changed on the CM cast, so I had to find a way to adjust things so that it fits in with the current cast. This chapter starts with the third episode of season 12. So we don't have Hotch or Morgan, but we do have Alvez and Tara.**

Zara wasn't sure if her parents' were all accepting of her marriage to Adam, they sure as shit weren't going to be pleased when she dropped the news that they had gotten a divorce.

In the weeks leading up to her cousin Raveen's wedding, she had been dreading the moment she'd be reunited with her family. While her mother, siblings, nieces and nephews were all fine with her presence, her father had always been a little bit… annoyed at her choice to marry someone who wasn't Indian. As she got onto the subway, she recalled the day she told her father that her boyfriend was white. She had never gotten such a long lecture and yelling at in her entire life. Even her sister, what with her crazy stunts every now and again, had never brought out this side of anger from their father.

She hopped off the train and quickly made her way into the FBI building in Quantico. A few floors up, and she was walking into her office, beside Garcia's. It had been stocked with everything she'd need to perform an autopsy, whether the body was present or not. She quickly dropped her things off, and headed into the bull-pen, where the others were just getting in.

"So," Rossi began, "excited for the family reunion?"

Zara raised an eyebrow, "A little."

Tara passed her a cup of coffee, "you should be. It's been awhile since you've seen them, right?"

"Yeah, about 3 years," Zara replied dully. "I'm not one for the huge family reunion stuff."

Rossi nodded, "I know how you feel. The familia is always a bit much in some instances."

Prentiss popped her head out of his office, "Conference room, two minutes."

Ssince the break out from the prison a few months earlier, Hotch and his son had gone into protective custody. They didn't need a repeat of the Haley incident, and Hotch was unable to alert the team until he was being led out of his house. In the meantime, Emily Prentiss, who had been away running the London Interpool office, had decided to return to help the team.

"Looks like we've got a case," Reid said, dropping the stack of cases he was about to work on.

"What about your family, Reid?" Zara asked.

"Just me and my mom. She's in Maryland right now," he replied shortly, as he headed to the conference room.

Zara looked at Garcia, JJ, Rossi, Alvez and Tara. "That's it?" she asked.

"He doesn't talk about his family too much," JJ replied, as she led the others to the conference room.

Garcia quickly grabbed the small remote, and began to pull up various photos of a grisly murder scene.

"We are heading to Boynton Beach, Florida. In the past three weeks, the bodies of Angelique Martinez and Cara Danvers were found in concrete. Martinez was a 39 year old single mother, who lived in the north, while Danvers was also a single mother to two children."

She continued to flick through the screen, as the rest of the team were forced to analyze the various photos of the women's bodies being broken out of the concrete.

"So the concrete itself could be a preventative measure," Prentiss said, as she flicked through the various photos on her tablet.

"Perhaps," Reid said, "did the coroner find any traces on the concrete?"

"Well, no. But he's not as good as the one we have here," Alvez said, looking over at Zara, who winked back.

"Do you want me to accompany you?" She asked Prentiss, who nodded.

"You'll be able to get more from the bodies than they will. Especially seeing as you know exactly what we want from them," Prentiss replied. "Wheels up in twenty."

The team headed back out to the bullpen to grab their belongings before heading to the airstrip. "So, when's the wedding?" Alvez asked.

"Uh, which part?" she asked, causing the others to laugh.

"The first event," Tara asked.

"A week from today," she replied, nodding her head.

"So, do you have a role in the actual ceremony?" Garcia asked, as she stopped byt heir desks before they left.

"Nope," Zara replied, "just a guest."

"Really? But you're her cousin?" Rossi asked.

"So?" Zara replied, "she's got about a million of those, and we aren't exactly super-close. With brown weddings, everyone knows they can't all be integral to the actual events. You're replaceable. Something they have made very clear to me in the past few years," she added with a sigh, as she tossed the last of her belongings into her bag.

Reid shook his head, "I've never been to a wedding before, besides JJ's and Morgan's."

The entire team turned to look at him. "Really?" they asked in unison.

He nodded, "I don't know a lot of people my age who are getting married," he concluded.

"Seriously, not even a cousin?" Alvez asked.

Reid shook his head, "nope. Don't really have any cousins. My mother and father were the only people on either side of their families to get married."

"Damn, so wedding season was never a thing with you as a kid," Zara surmised.

"Wedding season?" Tara asked.

"When there's a wedding every single weekend, its called 'wedding season'" Alvez clarified. The others turned to look at him, eyebrows raised. "What? I was born into a huge family too." He turned to Zara, "did you ever get invited to those weddings, where you don't even know the people, but because they were born like two town's away-"

Zara cut him short and hugged him. "Finally! Someone understand's the ridiculousness of that!"

"I got dragged to one the day of a NSYNC concert. Man, I was pissed," Alvez said.

"I know! I got dragged to one on my birthday. Never forgave my dad for that one," she replied.

The others laughed as the pair compared stories about growing up. Alvez was born in the Bronx, and Zara was born in Surrey, Canada, a place that was notorious for having a huge Indian population.

"-it's like you never left the motherland," the pair finished together, as they took their seats on the jet.

Zara quickly opened up the tablet and began running through the coroner's reports on the two bodies.

As they were mid-flight, Garcia popped up on the small screen next to Tara and Prentiss. "The police found another body. 28 year old Ritika Shah, mother of one. Her body has more signs of decomposition. She was reported missing a month ago."

"So she was the first," Reid said. "Followed by Martinez a week and a half-ish later, and then Danvers three days ago."

"So there's not a rigid schedule. Maybe these are victims of opportunity," JJ said.

"He's definitely got a job, if we're talking about opportunity. The women were reported missing on Sundays and Mondays, so he probably abducted them on Friday afternoon or Saturday," Zara added.

Garcia nodded to her. "I'll send you the coroner's report when it comes in. And the rest of you have the pertinent information. I'll keep running through the back alley's to see if there's a connection between the three. Garcia out."

Prentiss turned to Zara, "You'll meet with the coroner when we get there. Take Reid with you. Alvez and Tara will go to the first crime scene, and Rossi and I will take the second. We'll all convene at the third and head to the station from there."


	13. Chapter 13

**I have an idea: We'll just pretend that I've been updating this story...even though its been like almost a year. Sorry 'bout that. I'm a terrible person when it comes to time management.**

The wheels touched down at Boynton Beach, Florida a while later. The moment their feet touched the tarmac, the team was off. Zara and Reid headed to the coroner's office, just ten minutes away.

She tossed the keys to Reid before jumping into the passengers side of the car. Reid, who never usually drove, tried to conceal his delight as he turned the engine over, and peeled out of the parking lot.

"So, you're really not looking forward to this wedding, huh?" he asked, as they stopped at a red light.

"Not really. It's just been...awkward with my family since I married Adam. And with the divorce... I'm the laughingstock of the entire family." She paused, "I'm going to be the warning tale they tell the following generations."

Reid shook his head slightly, "Is an interracial marriage really seen that badly?" he asked.

Zara pursed her lips, unsure of what to say. "I guess" she finally said, "it depends on your parents and how accepting they are. Like, the rest of my family got over the shock and was fine with the wedding. It was traditional, as you know from those photos. But in spite of being there physically, my dad was pissed off by my choice. He always assumed I'd find a nice, rich Indian man and settle down and have a thousand kids. That was the expectation and I broke it. Plus... I mean, marrying a white guy, what with all the history and everything that Indians have with them... it was almost like treachery," she said, with a laugh.

Reid let out a low whistle. "Does anyone know about the divorce?" he asked.

"My sister," Zara replied. "She's always had my back."

"Must be nice to have a sibling or two, when things get tough," Reid spoke softly, as he was reminded of his mother's debilitating condition.

Zara took the traffic as an opportunity to get Reid to open up. "So you're an only child?" she asked.

Reid nodded, "Whenever I asked why i didn't have any siblings, my mother always said 'why mess with perfection?'"

Zara stifled a laugh, "that's sweet." She paused before continuing her interrogation. "Are your parents still together?"

Reid shook his head, "they divorced back when I was a kid. I don't really remember my dad too much, he wasn't around after he left. Reconnected with him a while ago, but I've always been closer with my mother. She was the one that raised me -taught me everything I know."

Zara nodded, "What did she do for a living?"

Reid smiled as he remembered sitting in his mother's lap as she read him pages and pages of the Canterbury Tales whenever he was sick. "She was a professor of 15th century literature."

Zara nodded, "Impressive. What university?"

"Las Vegas," Reid replied. "I was born and raised there."

"Remind me to never play poker with you," she replied, causing him to smile. "You don't talk that much about yourself, do you?"

Reid felt a blush creep up the side of his face as he gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. "Um, I guess I'm just a bit of an introvert."

"Mmm," Zara nodded in agreement. "I can see that. Its just that you shut down earlier, when I asked about your family -which is totally understandable, because we don't know each other that well."

"With all the changes going on in the BAU, I mean... it's been hard to decipher whether or not someone is going to be here for a year or for several," Reid replied, as they pulled into the small lot of the cornor's office.

"Change is hard, but its what shapes us. We learn, we adapt, we survive," she replied as they hopped out of the car and walked into the building.

Thankfully, the AC was cranked up high in the hallways as they made their way to the corner's office, where they knocked upon the door. "Come in," a voice called.

Reid held the door open for Charlotte, as they headed into the room. On three separate metal tables lay the bodies of their victims. The first one was slightly decomposed, and the concrete had made it difficult to completely extract the body. The other two, however, came out relatively fine.

"So, these are the poor souls," Zara said, as she picked up a pair of latex gloves. She moved closer to the newest victim. "Were there any signs of sexual assault?"

The coroner came out from one of the small closets, clipboard in hand. "No. I just tested the third vic and she passed too."

"So there's no sexual element to the case," Reid said as he peered down at the face of the second victim. "At least, not directly."

"He might be one of those creeps who gets their jollies from the kill?" Zara suggested, as she peered into the nostrils of the first victim. "Any of the cement make its way into the bodies?" she asked.

The coroner shook her head. "But I did see some drugs. Mainly oxycodoine and fentanyl. They all had high enough amounts to trigger a complete shutdown of their vital organs."

"They were forced to overdose?" Reid asked, as Zara took the papers from the coroner.

"No, not exactly." Zara said, scanning the paperwork. "There's a high concentration of the drugs in the first victim, but its decreasing. Maybe he overdid it and is just using it to subdue them?"

"For what?" Reid pondered.

"Did you find anything else?" Zara asked, flicking through the pages of the autopsies.

"Well, all three of them had their ring fingers broken," the coroner added, pointing to the third victims finger, which was slightly purple owing to rigor mortis.

"He broke them before they were killed," Zara said, as she looked closer. Reid looked at the first victims hand as well, where he spotted the same purple flesh tones.

"He's killing single mothers, and breaking their ring fingers... what if he's a scorned lover, and these three women are people who rejected him," Reid said quickly.

"It's happened one too many times, and now he's lashing out," Zara finished, grabbing the copies of the autopsy the coroner had provided. "Let's head back to the station."

As they drove back, Zara continued to flick through the background check Garcia provided of the most recent victim. "Her ex-husband has custody of their kid on the weekend, so he probably came by to pick her up in the afternoon." She continued to swipe through the documents, "heavy social media presence -her daughter was the centre of her universe... The family still needs to be notified."

They quickly headed to the large room in the back of the precinct where the officers had let the team set up shop. The others were already there, waiting for them. "So, how did it go at the coroner's office?" Prentiss asked, as she labelled the map of the Boynton Beach.

"Well, we found that all the victims had high levels of opioids in their system, probably as a way to subdue them. But these doses were high enough to cause them to OD. The unsure keeps lowering the dosage as he kills, probably because he wants them to be somewhat responsive," Reid said, as he took one of the coffee's sitting on the table.

"The unsure broke their ring fingers as well," Zara added as she sat down next to Alvez. "What do you guys make of that?"

"Maybe he's got a rage against divorced women," Alvez suggested.

"Or he's been rejected by them all," Rossi added.

As they continued to narrow down the larger aspects of their unsub's behaviour, Zara flicked through the pages of the autopsy, looking for any further anomalies that may have been overlooked.

A few moments later, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Prentiss said.

The sheriff entered. "Hi, my name's Sheriff Keller. I appreciate you guys taking time off and coming out this way. Means a lot to us," he said.

"Anytime," Prentiss replied.

"We've got the victims families waiting in the other rooms, just in case you'd like to ask them any questions," he replied.

Prentiss nodded,"that would be great." She turned to the others. "Rossi and JJ, go with the first vic, Reid and Alvez with the second, Tara and I'll go with the third."

They all got up form the table, and headed out, leaving Zara to spread out the pages of the autopsies. As she looked closer, she noticed something very strange about the concrete's reaction to the first and second bodies. She quickly pulled out her phone and dialled Garcia.

"What can I do for you, my sweet cup of hot cocoa," Garcia said, answering her phone with delight.

"Hey Garcia, I need you to do me a favour. The concrete being used isn't commercial, its industrial grade, and it's probably ordered in massive quantities to certain companies. Its got a bit of a strange ingredient: quartz. I think the unsub is using polymer concrete."

Garcia clacked away on her keyboard, "I'll hit you back when I've got something," she said, tapping off.

Zara continued to stare at the papers, before resigning herself to the fact that she'd need to go back to the corners office, and get a closer look at all the bodies, with all the tools there at her disposal.

She was just passing by one of the rooms when a hand grabbed her shoulder. She whipped around and stared back at Tara. "Hey, I was just heading back to the coroner's office..."

"We need you in one of the rooms. I guess the third vic's family doesn't speak any English," Tara said, as she led her towards the room.

Zara nodded, and allowed herself to be ushered into the room. Sitting in an armchair was an older Indian woman, her sari wrapped tightly around her shoulders as she dabbed her eyes with the material. The woman looked up at the new figure that had entered the room and smiled, "Namaste"

Zara sat down next to the woman. "Namaste Aunty-ji." She waited a moment before asking in Hindi, "I'm sorry about your daughter. Do you mind if we ask you some questions about Ritika?"

The woman nodded in response and Zara turned to Emily, "go."

"Did Ritika and her ex-husband ever fight?" she asked. Zara repeated the questions in Hindi, translating the mother's answers into English for Prentiss.

After a few moments, Prentiss realized the woman wouldn't have any of the information they needed, so she decided to end the interview there, before causing the mother any more pain.

As they were about to leave the room, the woman said something else in Hindi, causing Zara to turn around, and bend down, so she was at eye level with the woman. Zara waited a second before saying something in response, and the woman nodded, placing her hand on Zara's head, and muttering something under her woman stood up and exited the room.

Prentiss and Tara looked at Zara with interest, "What did she say?" Tara asked.

"She asked if I would make sure that no one cut Ritika's body up. And to catch the person that did this," Zara replied.

"I didn't know you spoke Hindi," Prentiss asked.

Zara smirked, "My level of Hindi is what I've learned from Bollywood films."


	14. Chapter 14

After a few days, the team had managed to catch their unsub. The man had some serious mom issues. On the plane ride back, Rossi was treating the others to his stories from the days when members of his family had run-ins with the mafia. "And the whole cement shoes thing?" he stated, as the rest of the team nodded. "Completely true. I mean, what better way to weigh a man down?"

Alvez looked at Rossi from over her glass, "mmhmm. Someone's been spending too much time in the mind of an unsub," she twittered, causing the others to laugh. "Honestly," she continued, "with what we do, we'd make some really good serial killers. We have access to some really good medical equipment and advice," she added, nudging Zara who was sitting on her left.

She smirked, "Yeah. I think I'm gonna stick to just being a potential security threat," she laughed. On the way back, at the airstrip, the officers were quite extensive of their search of Zara's bags. The woman was polite enough, until they were heading into the Jet. She made a violent hand gesture to the backs of the officers, causing Alvez to laugh.

"Doesn't that bother you?" Prentiss asked, as she sat down with her fresh cup of coffee. "I mean, it takes forever to go anywhere."

Zara shrugged, "Is what it is. I don't remember a time where I didn't have to do all that kind of stuff. It's always just been normal."

"But it's not right," Reid stated, his voice slightly aggravated. "You should file a government report about it."

Zara looked at Reid warily. "You work for the government. Surely you know how many reports get ignored. This'll just be one of them. For now, I'll just stick to carrying a copy of my schedule and explaining that I really don't have time to join ISIS."

Alvez shook his head, "honestly, with a big mouth like that, one day you're going to get yourself arrested." He got up to grab some peanuts, and tossed a bag to Rossi, who caught them with a wink.

Reid opened up his book and began to read. The entire case had wrapped up easily enough, but he still looked bothered and stressed. His mother's involvement with the Alzheimer's study was not doing so well. The study was doing alright, but in recent weeks, he couldn't help but notice a slow decline in his mother's health and memory. There were times when he would speak to her, but she would not recognize his voice, and there were times when she was perfectly fine, but the former outnumbered the latter by a tenfold. He tried his best to keep himself busy, looking over all the research Savannah had been providing him with, as well as doing some of his own, but there was nothing he could possibly do to prevent the continuing decline.

He felt a slight tap on his ankle and looked up. Zara was peering at him from across the table. "You okay?" she mouthed.

Reid nodded slightly, returning to his book, but unable to focus on the words in front of him.

* * *

It took five minutes for him to turn the page. I'm telling you there is something bothering him," Zara told JJ and Garcia as they tried on shoes at Nine West. Garcia shook her head and zipped up the ankle boots she was trying on.

"Spence doesn't usually talk about his feelings that openly," JJ replied, as she gave Garcia a thumbs up sign. "He's more of the silent brooding type, if anything," she added. "When's he's got a problem he'll let it fester, and then once its eaten up a large enough part of him, he will talk about it."

"Why? What's wrong with sharing?" Zara replied. "Like, I know he's introverted. But you guys are his family. Surely, he'd tell you something. Someone that young should not be that stressed out."

"He thinks we're going to baby him if he does tell us," Garcia said as she placed the shoes back in their box and added them to the stack of several that she was about to purchase. "It's because he's always been the youngest of the team - until you joined, that is."

Zara nodded, "mmhmm. But isn't there anyone he talks to about his feelings?" She thought back tot he conversation she had with Reid in Boynton Beach, in the car on the way to the coroner's office. "He mentioned his mother, but..." her voice trailed off as JJ hushed her.

"Spence is going to kill me if I tell you, but-" She began, but Zara hushed her this time.

"If he's gonna kill you, don't tell me. Don't wanna get yourself into a mess of crap just for some tidbits of info," Zara replied. "He's talk if and when he wants to."

Garcia, who'd gone to go pay in that much time, joined the two women, her arms laden with shopping bags. "If he's gonna talk to anyone its gonna be Morgan. The two of them are like brothers."

* * *

Several weeks later, the team entered Rossi's mansion, having a lovely dinner cooked for them by the host himself. Rossi had made sure to break out the best wine and fine china for the team, as he usually did. It was the first time Zara had ever been to the man's house, and from where she was standing, he'd done quite well for himself. The place was huge, and she was waiting for the tour to begin.

Rossi, who had cooked himself into a corner in the kitchen, turned to the team. "Guys, who don't you give this lovely new team member of ours a tour of the space. I might be here a while."

"Are you sure you don't want any help?" Prentiss asked as she looked at Ross from over the massive island, which was already laden with food. The older agent was continuing to produce dish after dish from the massive oven, keeping an eye on the several pots boiling way on the two gas stoves.

"Prentiss, how good are you with plating" he asked cheekily, turning and giving her a wink. Prentiss threw her hands in the air, "nevermind, I guess," she said with a laugh.

The group led Zara out from the kitchen and into the large dining space, where the rest of the cutlery had already been laid out. "So this is where Rossi eats. Nice little space, isn't it?" Alvez said with a laugh. From behind them, they heard Ross mutter something in Italian, most likely aimed at the young agent's joke.

"Quite a humble abode," Zara replied, earning herself a little response from Rossi as well. They headed out through the large french doors, and into the garden, where a beautiful fountain sat, bubbling away. The garden had to be a fair few acres, and there wasn't a fence in sight.

JJ pointed to a large gazebo in the middle of the garden. "That's where Will and I got married," she said, beaming at the spot.

"You guys got married in Rossi's backyard?" Zara asked, incredulously. She knew that they were all friends, but letting someone get married in your yard is something else.

"Yeah. We were working one hell of a case, and Will got dragged into it by the unsubs. The team managed to work together to save him and we got married that same night. Rossi planned the whole thing. Even flew my mother out here with her wedding dress as well," JJ replied, her eyes tearing up as she reminisced on one of the happiest days of her life.

They led her further into the garden and showed her the magnificent little bubbling brook which led to a nearby river. Then they took her back into the house, where Rossi was currently, plating their dinners. "Still not done!" He called from the kitchen.

"Take your time, I wanna see the rest of this joint," Zara replied, as they headed to the left wing of the house, where Rossi's garage and office were. Zara was unsurprised to see several luxury vehicles parked in the garage. On the far left there was something small, covered with a cloth. "What is that?" she asked, pointing to it.

"Ah, that-" Tara began, remembering her first time in Rossi's house. "Is Rossi's most prized mode of transportation." She threw the sheet back and Zara gasped, almost passing out.

"Is... is that an Ecosse?" she asked, staring at it wide-eyed. She hesitated for a moment before drawing nearer. "It's beautiful," she murmured, coming close to tears herself. Alvez tried to hide his smile as he helped her up. "What other pieces of beauty are there hidden in this wondrous home?" she asked, staring at the ceilings though she could sense Rossi's smoke room above.

As they reentered the house, Rossi placed the last few things on the table. "Ah, magnifico!" he said, grinning to himself. He turned to Zara, "liked the Eccose?" he asked with a smirk.

"It's marvellous. Do you ever take it out?" she asked, as he led her to her seat, which was right next to his. "It's got the smoothest transmission and dont even get me started on the alignment."

Rossi shook his head, "I used too, but now it sits here. I think Joy wants to get her license but I don't know how comfortable I am with letting her on the road. Its too dangerous," he explained, as he poured Zara some wine.

"That's exactly what my father said to me when I first got my license," Zara said, thanking him with a nod as she drank some of her wine. "But then I showed up on his doorstep a month later with a bike and a helmet and he was more excited at the prospect than I was."

Rossi shook his head in amusement. "So, why did you become a coroner. I realize that we've known you for just over a year now, but I can't help wonder why you'd choose such a profession. It's a bit depressing, isn't it?"

Zara considered this for a moment. "I mean, it wasn't that I couldn't become a doctor. I just, I hated the bureaucracy of it all. Working in hospitals and what not. The residencies are terrible and you barely get a moments piece. You're under so much stress and, I just didn't want to deal with it. At least if you're a coroner, the people are already dead and gone, so what more can you possibly do to them?" she replied, cutting into her chicken.

The team members exchanged dark looks, as they knew exactly what kind of weird shit people did with dead bodies. Ignoring his immediate instinct to comment on that, Reid pipped up, sitting across from Zara. "But Los Angeles?"

"It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. I mean, the FBI office was looking, I was applying -it was a perfect match. I also thought that I'd see some celebrities there too. On or off of the table," she added.

Reid cracked a small smile, and Zara felt a little flutter in her stomach. She quickly reached for her wine, needing something to do to cover the small smile that was beginning to play on her lips. "What about you, Mr. David Rossi?" she asked, turning the tables on him. Rossi lent back in his chair and gave her a look that read, "ask away."

"So, I just want to clear the air, but exactly how many times have you been married?" she asked. "I just want to know my competition," she added, making him laugh.

"Well," Rossi began. "I've been married three times, and they were all wonderful women," he concluded with a grin.

Zara nodded, before leaning in, "are they here?" she asked, earning a nudge from Rossi as she continued to eat her food. "I do know one thing. They made a huge mistake. I mean, the food is excellent." She was currently making room on her plate for another side of chicken parmesan, when her phone started to beep away. She quickly excused herself, "I am so sorry." She ducked into one of the several washrooms on the lower level of the house. The number wasn't familiar but she answered it anyways. "Hello?" she said.

"Hey... Zara... um...it's Mandeep," said deep male voice from the other end of the phone.

"Mandeep? Why're you calling me?" Zara asked, confused. She and Mandeep had been friends since they were kids, and the pair of them were supposed to get married, before Zara decided she wanted to pursue a medical degree. She really did it to buy some time, and while in Med school, she met Adam. The pair didn't fully start going out till they were nearly done, and at that point, she'd already decided to go back home and tell her parents she was not about to marry Mandeep. Mandeep had taken the news quite well, but his parents had become hostile to Zara's family since then.

The man sighed before sighing. "Do you mind coming over to see me? I heard you might be coming to Saabi and Jeet's wedding and... I really need your help," he finished, breathlessly.

Zara paused, unsure of what to say. "I... what is it you need help with?" she asked. "I'm not about to agree to anything blindly. Last thing I need is an ambush from your parents -no offence," she added.

Mandeep was quiet for a while, making Zara unsure if he was still on the line. "I've been having some health problems and I could really use a second opinion. I don't want to go to the doctor. If I do, Satveer will think there's something wrong."

"What kind of health problem?" Zara asked.

"I've been...using..." Mandeep muttered, clearly ashamed. Zara could practically see him running his hands through his hair in frustration.

"I'll meet you at the brink. This coming Wednesday," she said. Mandeep agreed, and she hung up the phone. Zara took a moment to rearrange her facial expressions from worried to happy. She muttered a small prayer and quickly headed back out to the dining room.

As she drew nearer, she heard her name.

"-Zara's unprofessionalism rivals even that of Garcia's and I didn't even think that was possible," Alvez said with a laugh. Garcia chucked from the other side of the table.

"Yeah, but she manages to figure a lot out, even from photos. Hell, she's spotted things that Reid hasn't been able to," Rossi added.

She could hear Reid's mouth open as he was about to interject, when JJ spoke. "Yeah, but Reid's been focused on something else lately, haven't you?" JJ replied coyly.

"I...what?" Reid stammered from his seat. Zara flushed slightly, unsure of what to make of this conversation.

"C'mon Reid, I'm not blind. Even I know she's pretty," Alvez said bluntly.

"I didn't say that she wasn't," Reid objected. "I'm just busy..." he faltered.

Zara could hear Tara scoff. "Busy? Really Reid?" she asked pointedly.

"She's offering to take us to her cousin's wedding. You could offer to be her date?" Garcia suggested.

Zara's stomach practically dropped to the floor, and she quickly went back to the washroom, not wanting to hear Reid's answer. She made a bit of an effort to be noisy as she closed the door, and marched back towards the others. Luckily, as she drew nearer, they had already quietened down, the subject abandoned completely. She smiled as she sat back down, and continued to eat her food, not at all feeling as hungry as she did before.


	15. Chapter 15

**I'm just giving you guys a head's up. I'm cleaning up my account, and that involves deleting some of the stories that I have abandoned. So if you've favourited or followed by old Criminal Minds fanfic and/or my abandoned Flash fanfic, just unfollow and unfavourite them, because I'm going to be deleting them. The PotC fanfic, my HP fanfics, and this fanfic along with some of the one-shots I've written are staying up.**

Working with some of the world's best profilers had its pros and cons.

Pros: they were incredibly perceptive.

Cons: they were incredibly perceptive, to an infuriating degree.

Zara was currently perched on Alvez's desk, flicking through several photographs from some of his paperwork. The images were quite gruesome, but weren't at all the worst thing on Zara's mind. She stared at them blankly, before her mind wandered to the deepest corner of her mind, to the thoughts she had set aside years ago - her family and friends.

The actual wedding ceremony and party was in two days, and the members of the BAU had taken up her offer to join in the festivities -they'd been in desperate need for a break since the Hotch's sudden departure, Prentiss's arrival, and the general morale of the team was in dire need of a boost that could not be achieved solely by the likes of one Penelope Garcia. The wedding was happening in Upstate New York, making it easier for the team to get there.

"I thought your family was from BC?" Tara asked as she stirred a few cups of coffee in the kitchenette.

Zara nodded, "They- We are. We have family in Toronto. My mom's sister. It's her daughter's wedding. They moved there around 30 years ago," she explained, taking the mug from Tara gratefully. Despite her dislike of the drink's bitterness, she needed the caffeine.

Alvez crept up from behind her, nearly scaring her off of the desk. "Did you see anything helpful in the reports?" he asked, taking his seat and checking his emails.

Zara shook her head, "just your run of the mill decapitation. It seems like two different people." She pointed to the two photos. "The left has a cauterized wound, and it was a sharp object, most likely premeditated. But the other guy, he just looks like some poor guy who got in some maniac's way, the cuts are too rigid to suggest otherwise. Very unlikely they're the same person." She set the photos back on his desk, before heading off in the direction of her office, her mug held loosely in her hands.

"Something's off with her," Alvez muttered. The pair had become close, due to their being the last two people to join the team, and their similar backgrounds when it came to their families being immigrants. The pair were incredibly close, and would often come into work and leave work together. If the others didn't know Alvez had a girlfriend, they would've assumed the pair had something going on.

JJ nodded, "It's probably just her family. Must be a little nerve wracking to go back to them after all this time, huh?" she surmised. She turned to Reid and gave him a wink, "have you thought anymore about that thing we discussed at Rossi's?" she asked coyly.

Reid turned beet red and quickly made a dash out of the room, not wanting to stay in the interrogation zone a little longer than he had too. Alvez and JJ had to keep from laughing as Prentiss and Rossi joined them from their offices.

"Where's the kid going?" Rossi asked, as he watched Reid hammer the elevator button with his index finger, fidgeting. When the elevator did arrive, he quickly stepped in and hammered don the door close button, avoiding the stares from his coworkers.

"To pack? He's really excited," Garcia supplied, as she stopped by the entrance to the BAU, holding in her laughter as well. "Has he-"

"Not that I know of. And believe me, I would know," JJ replied, looking slightly put-out. It had been ages since Reid had asked that translator woman out for coffee, and he showed absolutely no interest in anyone else. Then again, he'd hidden Maeve from the rest of the team for the better part of year. It didn't take a profiler to know that he needed someone to have his back, and there was only so much support he could get from his friends. He needed something more.

* * *

The next morning, the team congregated outside of Rossi's house, who had gladly provided adequate transportation for the team. He'd hired a jet to take them to and from Toronto. While the others initially refused, they were reprimanded by Rossi, who politely asked if any of them wished to drive ten hours, which shut them all up. Johnny was supposed to join them, but he ended up cancelling, as Taylor had managed to get a few days off of work at the last minute.

As they sat on the jet, they felt as though they were headed to a case. Zara made it feel even more like that, with her constant tidbits of information. She seemed to be attempting to recall all she could about her family, as though she needed a refresher course on them. Alvez and Garcia were polite enough to indulge in her madness, hanging off of every word she said throughout the 90 minute flight.

"And my Aunt Seema, you wanna avoid. She's a little bit nosey," Zara rattled off, tapping her fingers on the table. She was reaching for a bottle of smirnoff to calm her down, butbRossi pushed it out of her reach as he passed by.

"You might wanna calm down," he said, causing Rossi and Prentiss to laugh. JJ had fallen asleep in the corner, having had a bit of a long night with the kids, knowing she wasn't going to see them for a day or two. Reid was sitting next to Zara, flicking through a book written completely in Russian.

"Why-why-why would I wanna do that?" Zara asked.

"Because showing up drunk after three years of not seeing any of them probably isn't the best thing to do right now," Garcia replied matter-of-factly. "Plus, who's gonna tell us where we need to go when we land?"

"I know where my house is," Zara deadpanned.

The others turned to look at her, too shocked to absorb the information. "Wait, like, you're parent's house?" Rossi asked. Zara nodded.

"Don't you think we'll be a little cramped?" Reid asked, looking uncomfortable with the idea of staying in someone else's home. Especially that of a person that he didn't really know all to well.

Zara shook her head, "Trust me, you'll be fine. Even you, Mr. Fancypants," she said, winking at Rossi, who shared a look with Alvez and Garcia that read "keep her away from the bar." Zara continued, "My entire family is staying at my Aunt's. Her house is a lot bigger than ours and she needs all the help she can get. Plus it makes it easier, as my mom is her right hand woman. The house is empty and I... I just can't wait to see how much they've changed my room since I was last there. My father threatened to change it into a gym."

JJ, who'd woken up in that much time, checked her watch. "We have a whole day to relax right? Wedding isn't till tommorrow?"

Zara shook her head, "Yeah. I might have to abandon you guys for a few hours. I'm gonna pop in to see the family later on today, help out with the final details if I can. Sarbjit helped me out a ton during my wedding. It's only right I return the favour."

"Sure you don't want back up?" JJ asked with a grin.

Zara considered this, "If you're up to it, then by all means come along. But if you wanna rest and relax in preparation for the early day we have tommorrow, then rest away."

Alvez, who was going to grab another beer for himself and Tara paused. "Wait, how early do we have to be up tomorrow?" he asked, cautiously.

Zara squinted for a second, "Like 7? We have to get ready and head to my Massi's- my aunt's house and then head to the temple from there. Oh, and I took the liberty of picking out some traditional outfits for my girls," she winked at the five women on the plane. "The guys can wear regular suits. But, you will have to cover your head and wear the ties I got you - so people know whose side of the family you're on."

"Are we going to war?" Rossi asked with a smirk.

"Well, there's easily gonna be 500 people there and a ton of drinks at the reception tomorrow night. You're profilers, you do the math," she replied with a grin. "Naturally, the night doesn't end until someone gets in a fight - twice," she added.

* * *

Once they'd touch down at the airport, Zara took the liberty of driving them through the busy streets of downtown Toronto. The team was slightly apprehensive of her insistence that they only needed one car. "My mom was nice enough to lend us her van," she explained pointing to a large Benz parked a little way ahead. As they clambered in, they were surprised find the seats moved into position. The two at the front were facing forwards, but the two rows of three were facing one another, making it easier to get in and out.

Zara quickly peeled out of the busy airport and headed to her house. As they drove through the busy downtown streets, the team marvelled at all the stores and buildings they passed by. The team had been there before -briefly- and few of them had ever gone to visit. "We have to do some sightseeing," Tara said, as they passed by a rather large Chanel store.

Zara grinned, "Don't worry, we have time for all of that." She drove them out of the city, leaving it in the review mirror.

"Where do they live - the suburbs?" JJ asked, as she watched the houses grow smaller, but the yards grow larger.

Zara shook her head, "they live in North York. The Bridle Path, to be more specific," she added.

Rossi's eyes bulged out, "they live there? Jesus, you didn't tell us that. Now I no longer regret cancelling my accommodation at the Hazelton after all."

They continued to drive, passing by a small university campus which consisted of only one building. Before turning to the right. They came down a little farther, before making another left into a large gated community, filled with some of the most extravagant homes that they had ever seen. "This is where your family lives?" Garcia asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Yep."

"So... you're family is..." Alvez's voice faltered.

"Loaded," Zara replied. "That's how I afforded medical school and university. We had the means and the resources so I thought, 'why not?' Plus, it got me some distance which is definitely what I needed at that point." She continued along the road before turning into a large, brick mansion, with ivy covering much of its face. The yard was huge and the home towered over them. It was quite similar to the homes Prentiss had grown up in while in Europe. It didn't seem like they were in Toronto at all.

"So why were you so shocked at Rossi's?" Reid asked, finally looking up from his novel.

Zara shrugged, "I've always hated big homes. They feel...empty." The team grabbed their luggage and headed towards the door of the house. Zara fiddled with something in her pocket before pulling out a key and unlocking the door. it opened with a satisfying click and she pushed the large oak door in. Immediately a loud beeping sound filled the home, and she made a beeline for the small alarm system on the side, punching in a few numbers. She turned back to the others, arms open. "Welcome to Casa de Singh," she announced.

The team filed through the door, into the large foyer. The house was massive. It had two grand staircases on either side. A large room on the left kept several jackets and coats, along with a large rack of shoes at the bottom. In the next room sat a beautiful home theatre, perfectly soundproofed and well-lit, stocked with snacks and refreshments. She led them through to the large game room in the back of the theatre, which housed a small jacuzzi, pool, sauna, and several different types of tables. A small wetbar was sat in the corner. There was also a small library with an assortment of books. "All in English, Sanskrit, Hindi, Punjabi, Arabic and Gujarati," Zara explained as Reid ran a hand over a small leather novel sitting on a desk. The kitchen was- as JJ so eloquently put it -to die for. Several ovens, two stoves, and two refrigerators. The island in the middle was big enough for Morgan to lay across, and that was saying something. There was a smaller family room and living room on either side of the kitchen, one of them looked rather unused.

She led them upstairs, where there were several bedrooms and bathrooms in each one. "Take your pick -except the one on the far right. That room is mine," she added with a sigh of longing. It had been far to long since she had come, and she half expected the room to be covered in a thick layer of dust. She was surprised when she opened it, to find the curtains drawn open, the bedding freshly washed, and not a speck of dust anywhere. She wheeled the suitcase to the side of her bed, before collapsing on it. There was a light knock on the door. "Come in."

The handle turned slightly, and Reid's head popped in. "Er- I don't want to bother you, but how exactly do the showers work?" he asked tentatively. Zara got up and Reid led her into the room across from hers. As soon as she spotted the several different taps, she realized, they'd been updated.

"Oh, um... just turn this one here" she grabbed the handle on the left and gave it a whirl, and a jet of cold water flew out, soaking the pair completely. "Shit!" she cried, turning the shower off. She turned another handle and quickly redirected the head of the shower, so the water went straight at the opposite wall. She felt it with her fingertips. "Yep, this is much better. Just use that one," she said, pointing at it and heading out of the room.

"Thanks," Reid said, as he wringed the sleeve of his sweater. He turned back to the shower before realizing the towel rod was bare. He began dig around the various cupboards in the room before finding a linen chest filled to the brim with various sized towels. Before picking one up, he spotted a small square of paper sitting atop the towels. He picked it up and examined it, before his jaw dropped to the floor. It was a directory for the towels, based on the individuals preference between fluffy, rough, and exfoliating. "This is something else," he murmured as he picked up a fluffy blue towel.

Downstairs in the kitchen, Zara began to prepare some snacks for the team. The kettle was boiling away as she placed various teabags on the large island. She headed over to the pantry, and within seconds, she had re-familairzed herself with the space's layout. One by one, the members of the team headed down and began to pour themselves some much-needed food. Peanuts and Cheetos could only fill a person up for so long.

"I thought you said there was going to be food at the wedding too?" Prentiss said, as she helped herself to another croissant.

up. "There is, but you guys looked pretty famished when were coming inside. I'm actually one hundred percent certain that Luke was having some trouble getting his gym bag up the stairs," she added, ducking before Luke swatted her head.

Just then, the phone rang. The others left it for Zara to answer, who started at the caller ID for a moment before picking it up. "Hi Mom," she said with a faint smile. "Yeah- yeah, we're here. Thanks for letting us stay by the way. She paused before continuing, "Yes I fed them. And we'll be over in like an hour," she nodded to the guys, who gave her a thumbs up. "Mmhmm, I'll pick some up for you on the way," she said yes a few more times, before she was about to hang up the phone. "He's there, huh. Dad," Zara murmured into the phone. "I'll talk to him when I get there. Love you." She hung up and headed back towards the others. "Think you'll be ready in an hour? It's just a small little ceremony thing, you don't need to be too dressed up. Just as long as you don't show up in like a unicorn onesie," she winked at Garcia who feigned disappointment.

"What about you? You're gonna be in the photos right?" Luke asked as he and Zara brought up the rear of the team, as they headed upstairs.

She nodded, "my mom's already picked out my outfit. It's currently hanging in my closet." She pinched the bridge of her nose, "never thought she'd be picking out my stuff again.

Luke could tell that she was shaking with nerves at the prospect of seeing her parents. He gave her a hug, "don't worry, they're your parents. They can't hate you. it's not possible."

Zara nodded and headed off to her room, clearly still weighed down.

* * *

They quickly packed into the car with Reid at the front, Rossi, Alvez and Tara, and then JJ, Prentiss and Garcia in the back. Zara was slightly annoyed at her mother's choice of clothing. The suit she was wearing was turquoise, and quite heavily embroidered with gold, which got caught on everything. She smiled politely as the women oohed and aahed over the dress before ushering them into the vehicle as well. "We're gonna have to make a really quick stop at the indian store by my aunt's house. She needs more food."

Luke clapped his hands, "I'm so excited!" The others all turned to look at him, and he shrugged. "Sorry I like food guys."

Zara nodded as she turned onto a long stretch of road, rife with traffic and construction. "It may not look like it, but this is the quickest way to get there," she added with a nervous laugh.

The team had known Zara for over a year, but had never seen her sound so incredibly worried. Her face expressions, although somewhat relaxed, were marred by a dark crease in her forehead, which wasn't going away anytime soon. The only time she had that crease was when they were working a particularly difficult case. She quickly turned down another street and merged onto a particularly large highway, which was also plagued by traffic and construction.

"What is this?" Garcia asked, as they sped past several cars. Zara slowly moved across the lanes until she was in the far left. "How many lanes are there?" she wondered, peering out of the window at the dozens of cars whizzing by on the opposite side.

"12" Zara replied. "May I introduce you to the fucking 401. This is where you will see some top tier Canadian driving, especially in the winter," she explained.

"This is the busiest and largest highway in North America," Reid stated, as he looked ahead. He winced slightly as she accelerated more and cut off one of the drivers in the other lane. "Aggressive much?" he muttered.

Zara shot him a skeptical look. "How else did you want my to get into this lane. By sprouting wings on my ass?" she posited. Reid reddened slightly, and was stammering out an apology but she waved it aside. "I'm just... jittery. Must be the coffee."

The team exchanged looks, before Tara spoke. "Maybe its your family. You got us all here, and we've got your back if things go south," she said positively, earning a smile from Zara.

"It's not the South that I'm worried about," Zara muttered under her breath as she turned off the highway, and onto a smaller main road. They barrelled down it until they came across a slightly run-down store in the middle of a plaza. She pulled up into a spot at the front and unbuckled her seatbelt. She turned to the guys, "I'm, gonna need some help carrying this order back. D'you mind?" she asked Alvez, Tara, Rossi and Reid, who nodded, and got out of the car. The other three women were tucked into the back, making it harder for them to get out of the van.

Zara led them into the store, which smelled vaguely of cardamom, cloves, and cumin and a multitude of other spices and fresh vegetables. She made a beeline for the small takeout section in the back, and the others followed, looking at the various products lining the shelves. Sitting atop a crate of boxes was some burning incense. "That's a fire-hazard," Reid said, earning a sideways glare from Zara.

She approached the counter and spoke to the woman working there in Punjabi. The small lady nodded, before going into the small back room, and yelling something at the works there. They were silent for a few moments before a man came out, holding a large box. He placed it on the counter, and went back in before bringing out another one. He did this three more times, before stopping.

"Is that all?" Rossi asked with a smirk.

Zara nodded, "I think so." She turned back to the small woman and said something else. The woman shook her head and laughed, "that is all" Zara said, as they each took ahold of one box. They loaded them into the back of the van and were on their way.

"So, where does your aunt live?" JJ asked, as they went deeper and deeper into a community. The houses were massive, but covered by trees lining their property, for privacy.

Zara turned left, and then right. "She lives... just straight along this road." She continued to go forward and the team's mouth dropped. There was a large house, nearly three times the size of Zara's parents, and it was decorated to the top with various lights, flowers, and other ornaments. Cars lined the driveway, and there was a spot up at the front, where a rented valet service was working. Zara pulled up and the team got out, the house towering over them.

"I might just move to Canada when I retire," Rossi whistled. A small cluster of men quickly approached Zara and pointed to the car. She nodded, and unlocked the trunks allowing them to take the boxes of food from the car into the kitchen.

A large set of cabinets were placed along either side of the house, holding hundreds of pairs of shoes. Zara slipped hers off and placed them at the very top. She looked back to the others, "take off your shoes. It's disrespectful to keep them on," she explained. Rossi looked particularly annoyed at having to take off his handcrafted italian leather shoes. Zara placed them at the back, and put her shoes in front, "no one will take them," she said with a grin. "I think."

Zara took a deep breath and led them towards the door. A large garland wreath hung over it, with a symbol made of gold hanging down from it. Reid Tara and Zara had to duck their heads so as not to hit it. Zara was about to knock on the door, when it was thrown open. "Hi mom," Zara said, looking down at the plump woman in front of her. She had a big smile and was equally as dressed up as Zara.

"You've lost weight," her mother said, squinting at her daughter, who sighed. "It's all this work that you do. You're too stressed out," she continued ushering her daughter inside. The team could hear an English accent as her mother spoke. On the phone they'd assumed she couldn't speak in English, but surprisingly she spoke it quite fluently, resorting only to Punjabi when she wanted to say something private.

"Mom, these are my friends. We work together at the FBI," Zara said. "This is Dr Spencer Reid, and these are Agents Emily Prentiss, David Rossi, Tara Lewis, Luke Alvez, Penelope Garcia and Jennifer Jareau." The team smiled politely and Zara's mother ushered them in as well.

"Do they not feed any of you at the FBI?" her mother remarked. She pushed the team into the house, and led them towards the large kitchen. Several men and women ran up to Zara, who repeated the same three words to each of them, her hands folded. Another woman, who looked a little similar to Zara, albeit she was a little shorter, came up and hugged her.

"Guys, this is my sister Preet," Zara explained. "Preet, these are my friends."

Preet nodded, her round face lit with excitement. "Nice to meet you guys. I've heard so much." She turned back to her sister and grinned widely, "I'm having another baby!" she squealed.

Zara quickly pulled her sister into a hug, "Congrats!" The team congratulated Preet as well, who walked with them into the massive kitchen, which was filled with more delicious food. "So are you planning to name this one after me?" she asked pointedly.

Preet smirked, "depends on whether its a boy or girl," she replied. Just then another voice called her, and Preet left the group as quickly as she arrived.

Zara's mother pointed to all the food, and handed each of the members a large metal tray with was divided into seven sections. "Help yourselves, I'm going to go get your father and Bibi," her mother said, before quickly running away.

"Mum, don't aaaand she's gone," Zara said, her hand falling to her side. She turned to the others, and nodded. "Let's eat," she jerked her head over to the several large metal pots, filled to the brim with different stuff.

Garcia swirled the large metal soup spoon in the murkey brown liquid. "What is this?" she asked, peering down at the lentils which bobbed around.

Zara peered over the brim, "Ah, thats Makhani Daal, its brown lentils, really good stuff, very filling, lots of protein." She pointed to another metal dish, filled with an orange-red liquid, "this is Shaahi Paneer. It's like butter chicken, but instead of chicken, its cottage cheese or tofu." The next bowl was filled with carrots and potatoes, which had been cooked with some sort of spices to make them slightly yellow in colour. "That is potato and carrot mix, or aloo gajar as we call it." There was a large tub of white liquid, with various spices and small crunchy bits in it. "That is yogurt, or dahi," she explained, "and the large thing next to it has rice, and the small wrapped up plate has roti." She began serving the food, as she knew what each of the team would like.

Alvez was reaching for the roti, when Zara's hand swatted his away. "How many?" she asked, as she dolled them out to the team. One of the other older ladies came in and yelled something at Zara, who nodded. "Everyone's eating in the backyard," she explained. They headed out of the large french doors of the kitchen, into a magnificent yard similar to Rossi's. The entire place was filled with people, and the tables were packed. Just then, someone called Zara's name.

"Oi, Zar!" a taller man yelled, calling them over. "There's tons of space here!" The team headed over to the man, who had managed to save an entire row of seats. The tema settled down and began to dig in while the man pelted her with questions. "Where've you been all these years? You missed Puneet's wedding, and Sharan's too!"

"Yeah, well I'm here for yours," she turned to the team."This is the groom and an old friend of mine, Harjeet. Harjeet, these are my friends."

Harjeet and the team did their introductions, as Zara pushed her spoon around in her food, not eating anything. Jeet turned back to her, "Uncle's here."

"I know he is," Zara sighed, not looking up.

Jeet took a deep breath, "He's not mad at you anymore. You know that right?"

"I got a divorce from Adam," Zara deadpanned.

Jeet's hopeful grin fell, "Oh. Shit."

"Indeed," Zara replied.

"Have you told them?" he asked after a moment.

"No. But it will come up at some point," she explained.

Jeet nodded, and got up, "Do you want me to head him off?' he asked with a grin.

Zara laughed, "We're not kids anymore, I'm gonna have to deal with them."

Jeet nodded, patting her on the back before heading off to a large group of men, who were looking at Zara curiously. Zara slowly began to eat her food, talking only to her team and only responding to those who called her by name. Just as she was beginning to explain the evening's events to the team, her mother returned, bringing with her a far older woman, who clutched a walking stick in her hand. The woman's eyes looked huge due to her thick prescription. "Zara!" the old woman cried, as Zara stood up and hugged her.

"Sat Sri Akal Bibi," Zara said with a genuine smile. It was clear to the team that this woman and Zara were very close. The woman sat down next to her and poked Zara's stomach, muttering something in Punjabi. The pair continued to talk as she ate, and Zara introduced her to the team. "Guys, this is my grandmother, Bibi-ji" She turned back to her grandmother and began pointing at the team, saying their names, albeit with a heavy accent. The old woman smiled and said hello.

"She speaks English?" Prentiss asked with a grin.

Zara shook her head, "No, she only knows a few words." Zara collected their plates and went to go throw them in the large bin at the end of the table. As she left, another person joined the table, sitting opposite the team. He was incredibly tall, his turban made him look even taller. His arms were large, and he was definitely a man who had retained a lot of muscle despite getting old. His grey beard was trimmed short and he peered at the team. "You work with my daughter, huh?" he asked, his English accent was prominent as well.

The team introduced themselves, casting a look at Zara, who was talking to another girl by the end of the table, not aware that her father was sitting with her friends. "So, your Zara's father," Luke said.

Her father turned to him and nodded, "they really have employed the finest at the FBI haven't they?" he asked with a grin. Alvez laughed, knowing the man was making a joke. Zara's dad clapped him on the arm. "I'm only joking," he said.

Just then, Zara appeared by her father's side. Her father stood up quickly, towering over her. Now the team knew which parent she was modelled after. They had the same eyes, the same permanent crease in the forehead, the same height, the same build, and the same sense of humour. "So, you can get a plane?" he asked, not smiling.

Zara's hands fidgeted by her side. "Erm, yeah - I can," she muttered.

"Speak louder," her father replied, staring her down. All around them, people began to stop and stare. The rocky relationship between the pair was clearly something the entire family - extended or not - gossiped about.

"I can get a plane," Zara replied.

Her father nodded, "Where is he?" he asked, looking at the empty spot beside Zara, where her husband should have been.

Zara shook her head, "He's not coming."

Zara's father shook his head, "You deserved so much better than him," he admitted, before pulling her into a hug. Zara's mother rubbed Zara's back, glad that she and her father had finally come back together as a family. He pulled away slightly, "So, why did you tell your sister and not me?" he asked grinning as they sat down.

"Well, I didn't know how you'd react," she explained, fiddling with the tablecloth. "Plus there was the whole Lot thing, and I didn't want to make a big thing about it," she added, casting a look around at the people milling around in the garden, clearly trying to listen in while being nonchalant about it.

Her dad shrugged, "At least your back, and that's all that matters."

"I thought you hated me," Zara stated.

"You're my daughter. I can't hate you, ever. I might not agree with you, but I could never hate you," he explained with a grin. He turned back to the team and placed a hand on Zara's head, "You all better take good care of her" he said with a smile before getting up and heading to where the other elders were.

Zara tried to hide her embarrassment, but her shoulders and demeanour were far more relaxed. The crease in her forehead was gone, and she was now beginning to get into the spirit of things. Maybe coming back wasn't such a bad idea after all.


	16. Chapter 16

**So, my updating schedule is going to be super sporadic for the next month and a bit. I have my LSAT coming up in June, and I really need to focus on that. I will try to update this story (along with my PotC and Marauders ones) as often as I can, but don't get mad at me if I go a little while without an update.**

 **It also says that I updated the story twice. I didn't. I just combined two chapters into one long one because it worked better than splitting them.**

The festivities taking place that evening had to be some of the strangest but most enjoyable that the team had ever partaken in. Zara's cousin Sarbjit (the bride) was sitting on the ground, her aunts and uncles sitting around her. The bride's family (Zara included) took several photos with her, until it was time for the bangle ceremony. Sarbjit's maternal uncles and aunts placed 21 ivory bangles on each of her arms, which had been bathed in a mixture of rosewater and milk beforehand. As they were sold on on by one, her mother passed her uncle a large shawl, which he then placed over her arms to signal her departure from this family. The elders and older aunts began to sing several traditional Punjabi folk songs, and Zara went to join her team, who were sitting towards the back of the crowd. "So, what do you think so far?" she asked, grabbing a glass of water.

"This is some super-extravagantness and I am loving it," Garcia replied, her eyes wide as she watched the bride's bangles being tied with several large gold ornaments. "This is what I want for my wedding," she added with a grin.

Zara nodded, "I will gladly help you prepare for it," she laughed.

Reid was listening intently to the song, trying to decipher its meaning, while Prentiss, who had lived in several Middle Eastern countries, deciphered the odd word here and there - the languages had some overlapping words. "What are they saying?" Reid asked, listening as hard as he could, but having no clue whether the song was supposed to be sad or happy.

"They're saying that she's going off with her husband. She's leaving the family. We wish her well, and her mother will miss her" Zara translated slowly, as she listened to the lyrics of the song. "Well, that's the rough translation, at least." She turned back to the team, who looked somewhat downtrodden at the shifting mood. "Hey, it'll pick back up in a few moments. We get all the sad stuff out of the way, and then we sing the really fun and sound songs, get really rowdy, annoy the whole neighbourhood, the men get sacrilegiously drunk, and then we all go to sleep and wake up at the crack of dawn," she explained, trying not to laugh.

As if it were happening on cue, the next song, began, sounding a lot happier than the last. Preet, who'd been sitting next to Sarbjit the entire time, walked towards Zara. "We need you for the next song. No one else can play the peti bhaja!" she grabbed Zara's hand and dragged her over to the front, and sat her down in front of a wooden harmonium. Zara shot the team an apologetic look, and they waved it aside, waiting for her to play. She quickly hit a few keys, testing the harmonium, before starting to play. The elders began to sing once more, this time with a tune to help them.

Preet went back to the team and sat down in Zara's vacated chair. "Enjoying the wedding?" she asked, beaming with pride at her sister.

"Yeah, its been amazing," JJ said with a smile.

Preet spotted JJ's birthstone rings, and grinned. "You're a mother too, huh?" she asked. JJ nodded, blushing slightly. Preet turned back to Zara, "everyone's just waiting on her now."

"What do you mean?" Prentiss asked, turning to face Preet.

"Well," she began. "When Zara got married to Adam, we all thought they'd start having kids, but she got diabetes, and that sort of threw everything out of whack. Her and Adam had a lot of fights over it, and eventually, he blamed her for them never having a child." The others shook their heads, and Rossi whispered "damn." Preet nodded, "I always feel guilty about not spending more time with her before she got married and left."

Reid turned to look at Zara, as Luke asked "what do you mean?"

"Zara and I didn't really feel close with our parents. When we moved to the big house, it pulled the family apart. Mom and Dad were always working, and thought throwing money at the problem would suffice. Safe to say it didn't, and I got a job on the other side of the country and moved out. She was left with our parents and our grandmother. To top it all off, she didn't have too much of a social life. She ended up taking care of herself. That's why it was so easy for her to split from us. We were broken already."

Garcia placed an arm on Preet's shoulder, and she turned to look at her. "But she came back, and maybe that'll bring you guys together again."

Preet wiped a tear from her face, trying not to ruin her makeup as she smiled. "It's too late. She's got a new family now, and that's all I could ask for. Take care of her," Preet said ruefully, as she stood up and joined the other ladies, who were dancing to another song.

As the night went on, and the celebrations continued, the team found themselves being taken to the dance floor one by one. Zara got them all up and into the thronging crowd, until it was just Reid sitting at the table, tapping his feet to the rhythm. Zara beckoned him to get up, but he merely shook his head. She folded her hands and shook them, "please Reid?" she pleaded.

Reid considered her for a moment, before smirking, "alright. But just one song!" he yelled, allowing her to pull him into the crowd. They found the other members of the team, who were having a blast, and soon, one song turned to two, which turned to three.

Zara, watching her team having fun, gently slipped away, and tugged on the sleeve of a nearby guest. "Let's go!' she said. The pair walked off, into the kitchen, which was completely deserted. "So," she said, turning to the man. "Mandeep, what did you want from me?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

Mandeep rubbed his neck, unsure of what to say. He was a tall man, but very muscular. His beard went down to his chest and his hair was freshly cut. "I.. needed your help with something."

"What is it?" she asked, her eyes boring into his. She had dealt with Mandeep's pleas before, and was one hundred percent sure she knew what he'd ask of her. She just needed confirmation, which came a second later.

"I've been using again," he muttered, clearly embarrassed.

Zara slapped her forehead, "damn you" she cried in Punjabi. She hadn't noticed, but Reid had approached the door, wondering where she had gone, and spotted her in the kitchen talking to a man. He was a few yards away, but could spot her distress from there. He moved to the side, so he could still see her, in case she needed any help.

He watched as the pair argued, Zara growing more and more flustered, before shaking her head, and storming away, leaving the other man to call after her. Zara ignored him and headed into the dancing crowd once more, not turning back. Reid quickly jumped back in as well, not wanting her to know he'd seen everything.

As the night wore down, guests began to return to their hotels and houses. Zara said goodnight to her family, and she and the others clambered into the van to head back to her parent's house. As they drove, she popped in a CD filled with classic Bollywood and Punjabi songs, all of which were quite popular, she told them, as she sung along. "These are the same tracks you will hear for all the weddings," she said, as they merged back onto the deserted highway.

"Really? This is it?" Tara asked with a laugh.

"It's the wedding CD, and its played at all the weddings," Zara replied with a grin. She lowered the volume slightly and began to translate the song. "It's from this 1990s Bollywood movie called _Dilwale Dhulhania Le Jayenge_. It translates to "The Bravehearted Will Take the Bride," in English. Basically, its about this guy named Raj who is sort of a troublemaker and a bit of an idiot, who falls in love with this girl named Simran. But Simran's dad wants her to marry the son of his best friend. And she and Raj spend the whole movie trying to get her Dad's approval."

"So... basically every Bollywood movie ever?" Luke asked with a grin. The others turned to him and he laughed, "I've seen a few. I dated a girl, she was Indian. She made me watch them."

Zara nodded, "but this was like, one of the first to kind of use that trope, and do the whole 'running in a field of flowers' thing and have like songs in different places all over the world. It was huge. Still is. In fact -" Zara began, "this film gave me the inspiration to tell my parents about Adam."

"Really? A movie?" Reid asked, looking at Zara, who nodded fervently.

"This, Bride and Prejudice, and Bend It Like Beckham... basically all the movies where the girl does not marry an Indian guy," she explained with a smirk. "These films kind of broke the mould when it came to the stereotypical South Asian person."

"Like Apu?" Tara suggested from the back of the car.

"Who's Apu?" Zara replied, looking at Tara through the rearview mirror.

The others looked at the back of Zara's head in shock. "You ever see a little show called the Simpsons?" JJ asked, trying to hide her amusement.

Zara nodded, "What, do I live under a rock? Obviously I've heard of it... I just ... never watched it. Seems kinda pointless," she faltered, catching Tara's shocked face in the mirror.

Reid threw his hands into the air, "Thank you!" he exclaimed. Finally, he wasn't the only one who thought that a show about a bunch of yellow cartoon characters in the town of Springfield wasn't as amusing as everyone thought. Alvez tried his hardest to conceal his shock, while Garcia shook her head, and muttered something about her being uncultured.

From behind the pair, Rossi looked between the coroner and their resident genius, "Jesus Reid, who don't you marry her?"

Zara reddened and Reid's mouth fell open, unsure of what to say back. The others in the van paused, waiting to see what would happen. Zara cast a sideways glance at Reid, and watched as the blush crept down his face and onto his neck. She was shocked out of her revere as she spotted the next sign. "Nearly home!" she said, glad her voice didn't come out in a squeak like it usually did when she was nervous.

"Thank god," Reid whispered under his breath, his eyes closed and the blush slowly receding. They drove in silence until they reached the house. As soon as she turned the engine off, everyone began to clamber out, clearly tired from the day and wanting nothing more than to curl up in bed. Zara quickly dropped off the different outfits in front of their doors for the morning.

"Why do we need to wear these?" Rossi asked, as he picked up a purple silk bandana which was paired perfectly with a purple tie.

"Your head's have to be covered at the temple. It's just a rule. The colours are so people know what side of the family you're on," Zara explained as she doled them out to the others. She turned to Garcia, JJ, Prentiss and Tara and passed out some garnet bags. "And here are your outfits. They're all tailored so..." she trailed off as Garcia unzipped her bag. A piece of heavily embroidered fabric slipped out of the folds, and the women began to fawn over it.

"I love weddings so much," Tara said, her fingers trailing over the stitching. She quickly spotted JJ's watch and jumped at the time. "It's almost one in the morning. We should probably call it a night," she recommended.

The others nodded and one by one, they vanished into their rooms. Zara headed downstairs and set up some coffee mugs, snacks, and other things for the morning. She knew they were all tea and coffee addicts and would need a little pick-me-up before heading out for the ceremony. As she headed up the stairs she overheard two voices arguing in hushed whispers.

"I don't get what your issue is kid," she heard Rossi say.

Reid huffed before speaking. "I don't get why you're pushing me towards her. She's nice, but I don't know her!" he replied, sounding annoyed.

"Reid, you can't live your whole life scared because of what happened to Maeve." Rossi's tone changed as he spoke, becoming softer and more fatherly. "There are things that your friends - Morgan, JJ, me, Garcia - all of us, can't give you. Things you're only going to get if you're in a relationship," he implored.

Reid sighed, "you're talking about intimacy. And humans don't have to have a significant other" Reid began, but he was shushed by Rossi.

"We work to find people who have become so damaged because they don't have love in their lives. They may have had it and it was snatched from them, and now they lash out at the world, and think they don't need it anymore. Look at what it's done to them! You're pushing yourself into that hole Reid, and if you don't do something about it, you'll never be able to get out of it. And I don't know about you, but I don't wanna be hunting you down in ten years' time," Rossi finished. He turned on his heel and went into his room, not giving Reid a chance to respond.

Zara waited until Reid had stalked down the hall and ducked into his own room before coming up the rest of the stairs and disappearing into hers. As she closed her door, she could hear Reid fuming away in his room, unaware that she'd heard the whole thing. She tried her hardest to get some sleep, but her mind was reeling from what she'd heard. That's why the team was so excited to meet her and have her join them. That's why they pushed for nights out and dinners almost every week. They wanted her to replace whoever this Maeve woman was, and Reid was not having it. Clearly, she thought, this woman made quite an impression on the young man before scarring him for life. As she rolled over, she realized why Reid never wanted to be alone with her, nor did he try to speak with her. He spotted the team's plan from a mile away and was already finding ways to avoid it. The entire time she thought that Reid simply didn't like her, or was wary of her, when the truth was that he only saw her as she'd been presented to him; a potential match.

"And I thought I'd avoided arranged marriages," Zara huffed, before finally managing to get some sleep.

* * *

The team was definitely in a pretty good mood the following morning. They quickly got dressed and Zara drove them back to her aunt's house. They'd be leaving alongside the rest of the bride's family and driving straight to the local temple, which was only five minutes away. The house was packed with photographers, make up artists, and several large videographers, all yelling at the same time.

The team maneuvered their way through the house, until they reached the large "living room" in the back. It wasn't so much living room as it was a miniature ballroom. The family were seated around the bride, as they took several photos before they departed.

"She looks just like you do in your pictures," JJ said, as she stared wide-eyed at Sarbjit. The bride was wearing the most intricately designed dress and top she'd ever seen. Her jewelry looked incredibly expensive and heavy and her makeup was done to the point that she looked flawless. The long veil covering her head trailed back slightly, similar to a bride's train.

Sarbjit waved at them before beckoning them forward. "Come on! You have to take a photo with me!" She said, as they team hesitated. "It's my wedding day, remember?" she implored, causing everyone to crack a smile.

"Really? I thought you were just trying on some new pyjamas," Zara replied sarcastically as she led the team forward. They managed to get a photo or two in before the pushy members of the family began to arrive. Zara nodded to her Sarbjit, who had whispered something in her ear when they'd taken the photo. She gathered the team and ushered them outside. "Okay, we'll head to the temple now. Sarbjit said the groom's side is already there, and she wants me to do a quick run through to make sure there's enough space for everyone."

Reid looked delighted to leave the overly crowded house, as he jumped into the car, and they made a beeline for the temple. It was a beautiful white building with domed ceilings and several spires atop them. Next to it stood a large flagpole, and flying atop it was an orange flag, with a symbol on it. Zara quickly parked and turned to the others, pulling her veil onto her head. The women followed suit, while the men quickly tied their bandanas over their head. Before they stepped out, Zara quickly handed them each a ten dollar bill. "Just follow my lead," she replied as they headed up the stairs. She held the door of the temple open to them, and the loud music from one of the rooms echoed out into the air. They were hymns of some sort, and each of the members felt somewhat relaxed as they stepped in. Zara quickly directed them. "So, we need to take our shoes off again, put them to the side, and wash your hands." She pointed to the several sinks lining the wall by the entrance. Then, we go straight into the room ahead." The team nodded once more, and they quickly regrouped after a few moments. As they stood in the centre of the atrium, they spotted several other people coming in and out of the the room ahead, all of whom were men wearing white clothes and turbans, and their long beards were completely white. One of them stopped to speak to Zara, who nodded and said something back. The man smiled and nodded to the others, before heading back into the room.

"Okay, just follow my lead again" she said, as she opened up the door to the room. As the team entered they spotted three men sitting on a dais on the far side of the room, playing several instruments as they sang. The entire floor was covered with white sheets, and there was a strip of patterned fabric leading from the door to the other end of the room, where another dais was. This one was slightly different. There was a long metal box, similar to a collection box sitting at the front. Behind it, there was a very slanted piece of wood which had been covered with embroidered fabric. There were several swords, chakrams, spears, and other objects that had been arranged to mirror the symbol on the flag. A man sat cross legged at the top of the slope, a large sort of desk in front of him. Atop the desk, shrouded by material was a large book. In the man's hand was a golden stick, with what looked like white hair. The man waved it over the top of the book every few seconds. The large dais was covered by a canopy and a gold frame with another small domed surface. Engraved on it was a sentence written in Punjabi. Reid was about to ask Zara for its translation, but was shocked out of it as she led them forward.

When she reached the long metal box, she dropped the folded note into it before stepping back, eyes closed, her mouth moving in prayer as she folded her hands. A moment later, she bowed in front of it and stepped off to the side. The others followed suit, before she spoke to them once more. "There's food downstairs, and the ceremony's going to be around two hours, so..." she gestured to the doors on the right, which opened to a staircase. She took them down stairs to the basement of the building. The entire basement was open concept, save for the kitchen on the left side. The smell of food wafted over the entire area and they each grabbed a small metal plate before helping themselves to more snacks.

"I don't know how many pounds I've put on, but I don't even care" Alvez said as he grabbed three samosas and some ketchup.

Reid quickly poured some tea out for everyone and Zara led them over to a long strip of carpet that stretched across two-thirds of the hall. They sat down cross-legged and began to eat.

"I'm surprised we don't have to pay," Rossi said, thinking of when his parents used to force everyone to go to church before they were allowed to have some of their Sunday Lunch.

"Kitchens are free at all the temples," Zara explained. "It's supposed to help bring the community together, get rid of the class system, and just generally feed people. All the food is vegetarian as well," she added.

"So what happens during the ceremony?" Tara asked, interested to know.

"Well, we sit down, facing the altar, and watch as the bride and groom enter, and they sit down as well. A couple of hymns are read, and they walk around the whole dais four times, and then they're married," Zara replied. "And then we all come back down here, have a proper meal-" here she pointed to the rotis being prepared in the kitchen, "and then head back upstairs, congratulate the couple, and head back home to get changed, and then go to the reception. And then we eat again."

"Does the bride get a chance to eat?" JJ asked, thinking about how early Zara's cousin needed to be awake in order to get her hair and makeup done so flawlessly.

"I actually don't know," she admitted, surprising herself and the others.

"Well, did you get a chance to on your wedding day?" Alvez asked.

Zara reddened, "I never got married in a temple," she stuttered. "They - uh - didn't allow mixed marriages around that time." She spotted the looks of horror on the faces of her fellow agents, and quickly rectified herself. "I mean, they're fine with it now, but back then... it just wasn't allowed. Not that the priests didn't want to do it, it was some of the members of the community that were really against it. We did the whole lead-up to the wedding, like the stuff you saw yesterday, but we had a civil ceremony." She stopped for a moment, as the groom's side had slowly made their way downstairs and space was beginning to fill. "But I wish I had a traditional wedding," she admitted.

"Fingers crossed that the next time you get married, its cool with these guys," Garcia said, rubbing Zara's back as she spoke.

Zara nodded, "thanks." Just then, one of the members of the groom's side wandered up to the team. It was an older lady, who looked down her nose at Zara. Zara folded her hands and greeted the woman who simply shook her head. She said something in Punjabi, loud enough to make the entire hall fall quiet. All eyes were on the pair. Zara shook her head and said something else. The others caught the word "divorce," and they knew the woman had asked about Adam. After Zara spoke, the woman nodded, and then said something else, which undoubtedly hurt Zara's feelings, but she tried to hide it. Zara nodded and smiled politely, before saying something else, causing the woman to back away as she reddened, and quickly return to the large group of people on the other side of the hall.

"What did she say?" Rossi asked, looking between the pair.

Zara shook her head. "That was one of my friend's parents. She's sort of hated me ever since I married Adam. Anytime she sees me she likes to ask how my marriage is, and now that it's non-existent, she's gonna have a field-day badmouthing me." Surprisingly, Zara was smiling as she spoke.

"Is that a good thing?" Reid asked. He knew what it was like being constantly critiqued by people around hime especially when he was a kid.

"Yes. It means that I don't have to explain what happened. People will figure it out themselves," Zara replied. She checked the large clock that hung in the back of the hall, and nodded, to the others. Ceremony starts at 9, so we should head up now if we want decent seats."

The team followed suit, and placed their dishes in a long metal sink which led into the kitchen, before washing their hands and heading back upstairs. "The women sit on the left and the men sit on the right. Try to sit with your back against one of the walls, and make sure to take up as much space as you can when you sit. Sometimes people try to squeeze in where there is only a centimetre of space, and you end up being uncomfortable for the next hour."

The team exchanged apprehensive looks, "isn't that impolite?" Reid suggested.

Zara shook her head, "Literally, everyone does this. No one's gonna judge." They opened the door back into the hall, and the team split up, and sat down on opposite ends of the hall, facing the large dais in the middle. Slowly, members of the family funnelled in and one of Zara's many cousins stopped by.

"I didn't even know you were back in town!" the girl cried, giving her a hug. She was much younger than Zara, probably in her mid-teens, but the pair were quite close. She turned to the others and nodded, "these must be your friends, right?" the girl asked. She smiled down at them, "I'm Jasleen. I'm one of her many cousins."

The team introduced themselves to her as she sat down with them. "Not going to eat?" Prentiss asked Jasleen, who shook her head.

"If I don't eat now, it gives me an excuse to get up and stretch my legs during the ceremony. I love weddings and all, but I hate sitting in one spot for an extended period of time," she replied, resting her back on Zara's legs. Zara didn't mind, and she began to fuss around the girl's veil.

Zara shook her head, "who pinned this for you? It's gonna fall off in no time!" she said, taking out several pins and readjusting the scarf.

The girl looked annoyed, "Preet did," she admitted.

Zara shook her head, "You know she's the number one-" here she said a word in Punjabi that made Jasleen laugh. "Where's Manu?" she asked, looking around at the boys side.

"He's bothering your friends on the other side of the hall," Jasleen replied sheepishly. "He had, like, a thousand question about the FBI for them," she laughed.

Zara and the others laughed as they imagined how that conversation was going on.

* * *

On the other side of the hall, a young boy probably around the age of 11 had sat down with the male team members of the BAU. He turned to face them, "You work with Zara pehnji, right?" he asked, as he readjusted his purple turban.

The team nodded, "what does that word mean?" Rossi asked, "the one you said after her name?"

"Mean's 'sister.' Have to call her that otherwise its not respectful of my elders" the kids responded as though he'd been asked that several times already.

"So she's your sister?" Reid asked, surprised that Zara hadn't mentioned a younger brother to the team.

The boy gave him strange look before laughing. "No, it's cultural thing. You just call everyone by their name and then say 'pehnji' or 'paaji' if they're a boy, at the end of their name." He turned to face the team, while still keeping part of his body facing the large dais. "So you work for the FBI?"

The team nodded, smiling. This wasn't the first time a child had been so enamoured with the idea of working for the FBI. "You interested in a career here?" Rossi asked with a smile.

The boy nodded eagerly. "My mom's in the police. She let me turn the sirens on in the cruiser once," he explained. "What does my cousin do there?" he asked.

"She helps us with cases. Sometimes we need a doctor to help us," Alvez explained, trying not to laugh at how big the boy's eyes the bohad gotten whilst talking to them.

"That's so cool!" he exclaimed. "Do you guys have badges? What about a gun?" he asked quickly.

Alvez pulled his badge out of his pocket and handed it to the child to see. "We don't have guns with us," he added, as the boy traced the edge of the badge.

"Wow, you're old!" the boy replied, as he gave the badge back to Alvez, who laughed.

"Yes, yes I am," he replied. The kid looked at Rossi, "How long have you worked at the FBI?"

"a long time" Rossi smirked.

The kid nodded, and then turned to Reid. "You don't look like an agent," he remarked.

Reid was unsure of what to say, as the only children he'd ever been comfortable around were JJ's, Hotch's and Morgan's. "Well, I'm not. I'm a doctor."

"Like my cousin?" the boy asked.

"Sort of," he replied.

"Doctors marry doctors," the boy said, as though he were repeating something he'd heard someone say. Just then a taller man appeared, and picked the boy up. "Hi Dad."

"Sorry if he was bothering you. He doesn't know what 'quiet' is," the man replied, shaking hands with them as they introduced themselves. He gave the three men a curt nod, before heading off with his son.

Rossi, who'd been watching Reid for a while, had spotted the man blush slightly when the boy'd made his comment. Clearly, their resident genius had feelings he just wasn't ready to accept.

* * *

The ceremony itself was extravagant. The women of the BAU watched as the groom entered, his turban decorated with jewelled pins, pearls and a small feather. In his hand he clutched a bejewelled sword, still in its sheath. He sat down, waiting for the bride, who appeared a few moments later, equally as decorated. The pair sat in front of the altar, the bridesmaids, best men, and immediate family right behind. Before the ceremony began, two large projection screens were pulled down on either side of the dais, providing translations of the verses in English, for those who needed them.

"Is that what you were talking to that guy about when we came in?" Prentiss asked, turning to Zara, who nodded.

"The grooms side has some people who don't speak the language either, so I thought it would help everyone out. Some of the kids also need something to read, to keep their minds occupied," she explained in hushed whispers.

After an hour, the couple began to do the four circles around the dais. The pair would stand, and the groom led the bride, their scarves tied together. They went around once, before sitting back down again for a few more minutes until the next hymn had been read.

After the fourth one, a few more lines had been spoken, and the entire hall stood up, before bowing again, finishing the ceremony. The couple sat back down as people began to congratulate them. The pair had large pieces of cloth in their laps, and were being fed some sweets, before people began to drop money into their laps.

Zara and the team quickly did the same, and the photographer took a photo with them, before they were whisked downstairs for a proper meal. The hall was packed, and people were quite excited for the upcoming party.

As the team finished, they headed back upstairs to put on their shoes. A young man approached Zara, and Reid recognized him instantly as the man from the previous night. "Zara, can I talk to you, outside?" he asked quietly.

Zara nodded, and turned to the others, passing Rossi the keys. "I'll be there in a second," she said, as she exited with the man.

"Who is that?" JJ asked, as she watched the pair disappear outside. He was a stocky man, but had a very thin face, and nervous demeanour, as though he were in a constant state of stress.

"No clue," the guys replied, as they headed out to the large van, which was parked a few meters away. They clambered din and fired up the air conditioning, waiting for Zara to reappear.

Garcia, who'd been staring out of the window, quickly jumped. "There's a horse in the parking lot," she said, as she pointed at it.

The team quickly whipped their heads around as they stared at it. Just then, the driver's side door opened and Zara jumped in, looking positively annoyed. "Let's go," she muttered, as she buckled up her seatbelt. Reid spotted her mascara looking slightly smudged as the others in the back turned their seats to face one another.

"Are you okay?" he mouthed.

She nodded and quickly wiped her eyes, before pulling out of the lot and heading onto the main roads once more. They reached the house in twenty minutes and the team quickly got ready, taking a small showers to help them feel more refreshed, before changing into fancier clothes. Rossi was, of course, wearing the most expensive suit he owned. JJ, Prentiss, Tara and Garcia had changed into dresses that they would usually wear to a wedding, as they were no longer restricted by the temple's modesty laws. Alvez and Reid had simply changed their suits. Zara had changed into a long heavily embroidered cream-coloured skirt paired with a small blouse and matching veil, all equally as bejewelled with gold and pearls. Her earrings were incredibly huge and her hair hung in large waves. She wore a large tikka in the middle of her forehead, which was held there by a thin piece of chain in her hair. Her arms were covered in bangles, and the team was surprised to notice that she had a nose piercing as well.

Alvez's mouth dropped when he spotted her. "This is a Bollywood outfit. I swear to god this is what they wear in the movies," he said as he looked her up and down.

"Whatever it is, it's a good look," JJ said, as she stared at the large necklace on Zara's throat. She also spotted several large rings on her fingers.

"You're really decked out, huh?" Garcia said, feeling positively out done in every way possible.

Zara shook her head, "I never get to wear this stuff otherwise. And I seriously doubt that if any of you got married, I would look so out of place in this," she added, gesturing to her outfit.

They all sat around for a few more moments, before heading off to the hall. The bride's side was only supposed to be there for an hour or two, and then they had to leave so that the groom's side could celebrate the newest member of their family.

"That makes no sense," Tara said, as they clambered into the car.

"That's the law," Zara replied, in a mock-seriousness. They pulled up to the large banquet hall, which was equally as beautiful on the inside as it was on the outside. There was a large gazebo, a few flower gardens, some small streams, and a large lake, where people could pretend to have a beach wedding.

"They rented out the whole space, so it's pretty much a free for all, but for the most part, we're all in the actual Hall," Zara explained as they headed inside. A few men and women stood at the doors waiting to lead them to their table. The team followed and found that they'd been placed near the dance floor, and also in close proximity to the food. "This is a good spot," Rossi said, as he looked at how close the bar was. "Anyone need a drink?"

They team ordered a few, while Zara stuck to her water. As they waited for the party to begin, they began to plan out their day for tomorrow. "Where do you think we should go?" Tara asked Zara, who rattled off the names of a few malls, all of which were packed with luxury stores. "There's also some great museums and exhibits here as well," she added, turning to Reid. "In fact, there's this new exhibit on at the ROM-"

"The Hawking one?" Reid asked, his eyes lighting up. "I missed it when it was in Washington."

"Well, tomorrow's the last day its in Toronto, and I've been dying to see it as well," Zara replied.

Rossi and Alvez were going to head to the breweries in the distillery district as well as some of the army-focused museums, as that was an experience they both shared. "That's decided then," JJ said. "I'll take Garcia and Tara shopping, Rossi and Alvez can do their thing, and you and Reid can go to that exhibit!" she said.

"Sounds like a plan," Reid replied, looking forward to the following day.

* * *

It didn't take long for the team to get onto the dance floor, leaving Reid to watch their jackets, purses, and in Zara's case, their shoes. Reid sat back, watching the crowd move and bob with the music. Zara had found some of her cousins and they were doing an elaborate and choreographed dance to one of the songs. He found himself feeling warmer and had no later downed the entire jug of water on their table. Eventually, the team made their way back as the food was being set out.

"I didn't know you could dance," JJ asked, turning to Zara, who nodded.

"I used to be part of a team that would perform at weddings. My cousins were too. It's really quite commonplace here because of the diversity of the population," she explained as she leaned back on her chair to grab the full jug of water from one of the emptier tables behind them. The bride and groom were going from table to table, saying hello and thanking everyone for coming to their special day. As Sarbjit and Harjeet approached Zara's table, Sarbjit quickly burst into tears, pulling Zara off of her seat and into her arms. Zara awkwardly patted the woman's back as she continued to cry.

"You have to visit more!' Sarbjit said between sobs.

"I will," Zara replied, knowing full well she probably wouldn't.

Harjeet rubbed his wife's back and nodded to her. "Your ass better be here every six months, otherwise I'm going to have to deal with this," he replied, pointing to Sarbjit, who took a moment to nudge him in the ribs, before returning to her cries. Harjeet smiled, "Seriously, Zara, you need to come back more. Your parents miss you, and... we all do."

Zara nodded, trying her hardest not to join Sarbjit's cry-fest. The pair nodded to the rest of the team, and as they walked to the next table Sarbjit turned back, "Take care of her!"

The team, who'd gotten used to this by now, tried to hide their laughter as Zara sat back down, looking positively mortified. "Okay, she's like the fifth person to say that to us," Rossi said.

Zara shook her head, "I'm the youngest out of this whole group. Growing up, they used to take turns watching me, and the line used to be "take care of her." When I became a doctor, they thought it would be funny to keep saying that because of... well... the fact that now I take care of everyone."

"We used to do that to Spence," JJ said, as Reid began to blush.

"Yeah, he was the youngest out of all of us. Morgan used to baby him so much," Prentiss added, as she thought back to the times when Morgan and Reid would go to bars and Morgan would jokingly cover Reid's eyes at the sight of scantily clad women.

Zara turned to him, "Really?" she asked. Reid nodded, and continued to look down, hiding his face. Zara shrugged as they all stood dup to grab some food. She watched as Alvez packed his plate. "It's not going anywhere," she remarked.

Alvez grinned as he looked at his watch, "but in half an hour, we are," he replied, reminding her they'd have to leave soon.

The team scoffed down their food before hitting the floor one more time, and heading back to the house. "It's only 8 and I'm already tired," Garcia exclaimed as they headed back to the house.

Zara shook her head, "How about we get home, shower, relax, and we can sit in the yard. I'll light the pit and we can make s'mores?"

"Fuck yes, I am in!" Garcia replied, clearly slightly intoxicated from the wedding.

* * *

The team got ready in record time, and soon the pit was ablaze and the team was having a blast. JJ was telling them about the time she told Henry about her wedding. "He thought it was the strangest thing, that we got married in a yard," she laughed. "He was also grossed out when I told him that we kissed."

Prentiss began to recite the tale about a man she'd once met who had been married over 5 times. "He was trying to make me number 6, and that's when I decided, no more blind dates."

Garcia was fine with her current boyfriend, Sam, who she'd met several years ago when the pair had starred in a play together.

Alvez was currently seeing someone, but he remained quiet on how serious he was with her. "But she's met Garcia and Roxy," Zara pointed out, making Alvez laugh. "She hasn't met me yet!"

Alvez nodded, "We should go on a double date," he said cheekily, dodging the flick Zara had sent his way.

Rossi had had his fill of weddings, and was rather content with his life. "I have a daughter and grandson now. I can't just go running off with the first woman I see," he said looking at them all. "Besides, I just don't have the money for it."

They all scoffed as he stood up and headed inside. Rossi, knowingly, broke the dam, so that all the others could head to bed as well, leaving Reid and Zara, as they had planned in the car when she dropped into the nearest Walmart with Reid to get some supplies for the fire.

Zara and Reid continued to stare at the fire, roasting the occasional marshmallow over it. Reid watched as her marshmallow fell in for the sixth time. "Fucking hell," she whispered, clearly not at all annoyed by the food.

"You alright?" he asked politely. She turned to stare at him and he moved back slightly. "It's just- um, you looked kind of upset today, when we were leaving the temple." Zara continued to stare at him, and he took her silence as a sign to continue. "And I saw you talking to the same guy, Mandeep, yesterday as well. In your aunt's kitchen," he finished.

Zara sighed, and nodded, sitting up so she was sitting next to Reid. Her hands were twisting around in her lap as she spoke. "Yeah, he's the one who called last week, when we were at Rossi's for dinner."

"Oh," Reid said.

"Yeah. He heard I was coming and needed to talk to me," she explained. "I guess I couldn't say no."

"He makes you upset?" Reid guessed, trying to spot any of her tells.

Zara stretched slightly before slouching again. "He was ... he was the person I was supposed to marry."

Reid, stunned, turned sharply to look at her, cricking his neck in the process. "Uh-huh," he muttered.

Zara nodded, as she explained. "We grew up together. Our parents were close friends and we were hanging around with the same people, all of the time. We became close and people thought it was gonna be like in the movies, where the childhood friends turn into lovers, get married and live happily together. For a long tine, I loved that idea, and I loved him and cared for him too. Mandeep was the same back, but he didn't feel that way about himself. We were kids, we messed around, we used to do stupid stuff like drink under the age, and do drugs, but I stayed clear from the hard stuff, especially when I decided I wanted to become a doctor. Mandeep didn't. He fell in deep with drugs, began doing stuff that just, made me scared for him." She paused, and stopped to look at Reid, who's had was resting on the crook of his right arm, and his jaw was tensed. "Everyone knew, but they just pretended not to notice it, so he thought he could continue. I remember the weeks before I headed to Stanford. I was begging him to let me help him. Take him to programs, groups, a rehab centre - something. But he refused. So, I told my parents I didn't want to marry him. They understood, and were fine with it. I went to school, and six months later, I got a call saying he was in the hospital. He almost OD'd. I went up to visit him a few days later, and he promised he'd get clean. I came back the three months later, and the moment I saw him I knew he'd let me down. I went back, and this entire time, Adam had my back. He was the person I confided in and eventually, that became something. When I returned home the following summer, Mandeep was clean, but it was too late. I was with someone else. He took it pretty well, and now he's engaged to someone."

She paused, placing another marshmellow on her stick and holding it over the fire. "He was clean for five years. He was doing so well, and then he calls me and tells me.."

"He's been using again," Reid finished, and she nodded, as she watched her marshmallow fall into the fire once more.

"It's the wedding. He's stressed, paranoid, and has cold feet. He thought it would help but it didn't... he knows I'm not with Adam..." she faltered.

"He wants back with you?" Reid asked, his eyes popping slightly.

Zara nodded. "He said he 'needed the familiarity.' I guess that's what I provide him with. He wants to break up with his fiancee... I told him no."

"That's good," Reid piped up quickly, his voice sounding high pitched.

"Do you get that sometimes? The cravings?" she asked, turning to Reid, who looked confused and flustered.

"Do I - what?" he asked, loosening his shirt a little.

Zara gave him a look, "I may not be a profiler, but I can tell if someone's been an addict. The way your hand moves to your arm," she sad, pointing. Reid was surprised to see he was doing it now. "Never seen you take any narcotics, even if you needed them. And you tensed up when I was talking about him." She paused, "How long have you been clean?"

"Nearly ten years," Reid replied softly. "Dilaudid."

It was Zara's turn to look surprised. "Was this before you joined the FBI?" she asked, trying her hardest not to sound like she was interrogating him. Reid was silent for a moment, and she quickly spoke. "Nevermind. Stupid question that was," she rattled. "You don't have to tell me."

"It's okay. I want to," Reid said, surprising himself. "It was ten years ago, and I'd been part of the team for about two years at that point. We were in Georgia working this case, and the unsub, Tobias Hankel, suffered from split personalities. He thought he was himself, his father, and an Archangel. Anyways, Hotch sent JJ and I to interview him, and we didn't know Tobias was the unsub at this point. We split up to search the property and he abducted me. I was in a shed for two days, beaten up by his other personalities, but when...when Tobias was himself, he thought he could help me get through the pain by drugging me with Dilaudid. The team managed to save me, but I suffered with the whole thing for a while afterwards." He paused, "I know everyone knew, but I tried to act like they didn't and they did the same. Eventually, though, I stopped and I managed to get clean. Stayed clean ever since."

Zara let out the breath she'd been holding during Reid's tale. "Damn. That's...damn," she whispered. "This job you do, it takes a lot out of you guys. I mean, Hotch lost his wife, Emily died and came back, JJ was abducted... I don't know how you do it. Wake up everyday and face this stuff."

Reid cracked a small smile, and Zara looked at him, confused. "Gideon - my old mentor - I used to ask him that question a lot when I first started. And one day, after years of never responding, he turns to me and says; 'because someone has to.'"

Zara nodded, "He sounds like a wise man."

"He was," Reid replied, reflecting on his old mentor, surprised that he no longer felt grief at his death, but rather happy at the thought of him when he was still at the BAU.

"We should probably head in," Zara replied, leaning back on the bench, curled under one of the blankets she'd brought out. Reid nodded, and watched her fall asleep, the blanket fluttering with each exhale. He leant back as well and closed his eyes, 'just for a moment.' he thought.


	17. Author's Note

So, this isn't a chapter, it's just an author's note.

I know I said I was going to update soon, but I haven't had a spare moment. So much has been going on. Since March, my university has been on strike and I have been studying non-stop for the LSAT's this June. But my score isn't where I want it to be, so I've pushed my test date to September. My classes at uni have all been halted, and I haven't the slightest idea when they're going to pick back up again. I'm in my third year now, and I need my GPA (which I've worked very hard to maintain) to stay where it is, or increase. Whenever my classes resume, I'm going to be hit with assignments, tests and exams.

I'm so sorry to leave you guys hanging, but this is something that I've got to do if I wanna get where I want to be in the future. Hopefully you understand, and to anyone who's writing this test: good luck!


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